The Devil Syndicate
by Zoram Selrof
Summary: Sequel to the Secret Army. A short while after the failure of the ridiculous so-called "Secret Army" the activities of another organization which had been unnoticed for begin to surface. There's a person amongst them who seems to have been tasked with challenging Netto and Rock Man. Will Netto and Rock Man be able to defeat them or will they run into trouble? Rated M for lemon.
1. Prologue: Intrigue

**The Devil Syndicate**

**By Zoram Selrof**

**Prologue: Intrigue**

20:04 PM (Japan Time), Sunday November the 18th, 2010…

"… Achoo! Brrr! What an autumn! It's getting colder than ever and I don't wanna think how colder it'll become by the time winter comes. And I put on winter clothing, too!"

"Maybe you're allergic to pollen?"

"By all the… The last thing I needed!"

"Hey. Be glad it ain't the flu."

"I know that, X!"

"You don't seem to, Operator."

"Shaddup."

"Fine."

A teenager was walking down a rather empty street that night: he didn't appeal as being older than 13 years old and his height could be close to a meter and sixty tall.

He wore a brownish coat, cotton gloves plus a black cap, black jeans and sneakers: he also sported sunglasses and had the arm strap for a Link PET colored golden and blue while having a golden Alphabet "X" letter as emblem.

"Hmmm? Ah! Finally… We're here!"

The teen looked up and stopped in front of a large estate which stood in front of him: it was surrounded by high concrete walls which had metallic wires running over their upper edge: a large forged steel gate blocked access to the garden outside of it.

"Whoa. Master's mansion always impresses me!"

The estate was rather Western in style, being built of wood and two stories tall: two large windows were set on the top floor while the entrance had five marble steps climbing up to the main door: other small windows were visible on the right and left sides of the ground floor which were covered by velvet red curtains: there were no visible lights on yet some smoke came out of the brick chimney.

"Let's ring."

The teen looked around and spotted an intercom set on the wall to the right of the gate with the name "DR. MURKER RAHER, PSYCHOLOGY" written into the label: he pressed the button.

"Good evening. Who is it?" Someone asked.

"Dr. Raher's patient…"

"Ah. Do come in."

The gates buzzed and then unlocked: the teen pushed one of them inwards and then closed it before trekking up the path to the house and heading towards the already unlocked main door: he came into a hallway decorated with two Greek busts and a candelabrum hanging from the ceiling: red velvet carpets spread through most of the floor which was made of brown and white tiles.

"I must go to the study…" The teen muttered.

He glanced around for a second: two doors were placed on both sides of the hallway and there were two stairs which climbed into a wooden platform circling the whole room and allowing access to the first floor rooms: two large oak doors were set at the end of the hallway under the platform: three white marble arches served as additional support to the platform as well.

"Let's go, then."

He stepped towards the two doors and opened them to step into a largely unlit dining room which had a curved wooden table set on the middle of it plus some armchairs: there was another door right across the room.

"The study's door…"

He circled around the table and stopped in front of the door to knock.

"Come in." A voice replied with a hint of a foreign accent.

The teen opened the door and stepped into a luxurious study which had a candelabrum hanging from the ceiling, a fireplace on the far wall, a wooden desk and some canvases set on the walls: a miniature ship inside of a bottle was also exhibited in a shelf over the fireplace.

"Good evening, Master."

"Good evening."

The man facing the teen and sitting on the armchair behind the desk looked up from the documents set inside of a folder.

He looked on his late fifties given the thick black beard and moustache covering his face.

His hair was colored jet black while his eyes' irises were brown: he appealed as being over a meter and eighty tall even if he was seated.

He sported a greenish suit plus a tie of the same color and greenish pants: his appearance hinted at him being a person with a high social status.

"What are my orders?" The teen asked.

"Look, my disciple… I know I told you your most important mission would be to overcome that man and remove him, yet… Your reports of the past month make it clear that there's police protection around him. One step in fake and the whole tale is over. Do you see my point?" Dr. Raher asked.

"Yes, Master. What should I do, then?" The teen asked next.

"I'll shift your mission: you will stop field activity and remain in standby: I'm sure they have a hold of your appearance and maybe they haven't managed to ID you yet but I'd rather prefer to take a stone bridge apart just to check it's solid enough. Point is: I want to be careful. I can't jeopardize the whole "Syndicate" and our activities which generate immeasurable profits." Dr. Rather commanded.

"Roger, Master. By yours orders, Master."

"Relax. I'm not punishing you. You did a good job last month but we weren't prepared to face such sharp vigilance. They obviously are experienced people who can predict likely _scenarios_ and act according to them. But once we start acting differently, it'll force them to rethink their strategies and reorganize their resources thus leading to a small gap in security which could be exploited. But not now." He exposed.

"Roger, Master."

"You can use the basement simulator to train anytime but make sure to be discrete when coming to visit: I will be out in the clinic most of the days but I'll leave instructions to the butler so that he asks no questions and merely opens the garage door when you need to." He instructed.

"I understand, Master."

"… By the way… Is there anything troubling you?" Dr. Rather questioned all of a sudden.

"Troubling me, sir? No, sir…" The teen trailed off.

"I insist. Is there anything?" He insisted.

"Well…"

"So?"

"Ah! Eh… Well, sir… That's… eh… I don't know why, but sometimes, during my sleep, I "see" a "white world" where distorted and echoing voices speak but I can't see them… Sometimes they seem like whole conversations but I can only pick fragments of them… It's been bugging me, Master, truth to be told, for a while already…" The teen exposed while looking doubtful.

"Hmmm… Maybe they're memories which you are trying to repress because they aren't good to remember…"

"It could be, sir…"

"Don't mind them." Dr. Rather commanded.

"Roger, sir!"

"Do you have any doubts, though?" Dr. Raher asked of him.

"No, sir! I live to serve the "Syndicate", sir. Were it not for the "Syndicate" I would be dead, sir. I am ready to serve the "Syndicate" until I die, sir."

"It isn't my intention to make a martyr out of you. Forget that last part: there's no rule ordering you to suicide if things get awry."

"Roger, sir!"

"X! Is the program my Net Navi designed working fine?" Dr. Raher asked the Net Navi.

"There are no anomalies to report, sir." The Navi reported.

"Good. Make sure to train with it until you can control which "form" you will be using and exploit their potential to the maximum: you will need to if you want to overcome that man."

"Yes, sir! By your orders, sir!"

"I am supposed to keep my existence a secret, sir?" The teen asked Dr. Raher.

"Of course. The other 11 Heads of Department don't know who you are. You answer to me. The other members aren't involved. They all have their jobs to carry out, after all. The reach of the "Syndicate" is broad and powerful." Dr. Raher confirmed with a smug smile.

"Roger, sir!"

"You're dismissed. Good evening. And remember the orders."

"Roger, sir!"

The teen saluted in a military fashion before turning upon his heels and coming out of the room: Dr. Raher stretched and formed a broad grin.

"Hmpf. With this… _Alea jacta est_."

He chuckled under his breath…

21:18 PM (Japan Time)…

"… Well! Back home. Living on your own has its pros and cons but I'm the type who doesn't complain about stuff. I don't mind having to cleanse the apartment myself, buying the groceries and all that other stuff. That's being a responsible guy. Oi! X! Fetch me some more videos."

"Okay. I dunno what you see on them, though. They look like a strange thing to record."

"That's because you're a Net Navi to begin with: you're not supposed to understand human-unique things."

"If you say so…"

The teen came inside of his apartment and took off the coat to reveal a black wool jumper having a logo drawn on it: a circle with a red rim and orange flames painted inside of it: a black trident was set on the middle of it and two purple-colored eyes sans pupils looked on from inside of the sea of flames.

"Heh! We aren't called the "Devil Syndicate" in vain!" He announced with obvious pride.

He took the cap off to reveal jet-black hair which reached until the base of his neck and slightly beyond: he kept the sunglasses on, though, and changed his cotton gloves for fingerless leather ones: he then headed into a small bedroom having a bed, a worktable, a portable chair, a cupboard and, lastly, a small bookcase with a dozen or so books on it.

"Time to have a thrill…"

He sat down in the worktable and unzipped a backpack to take a laptop outta it which he placed atop the table: he plugged the charger into it and then turned it on as he hummed a tune.

"Oho. 3 new emails… YouTube subscription service… New topic alert on the gaming forum… Huh? Troll-F? Who's that? It doesn't seem spam mail, so I guess there's no harm in checking it out while X goes and fetches me the videos…"

He double-clicked into the mail icon and read the contents: his jaw hit the floor and he then exploded into maniacal laughter.

"Gah, hah, hah, hah, hah, ha~h! This one's good! "Dancing dancer of dances goes to the presidential palace in Mexico City and tells Calderón to go play a soccer game on the Vicente _Calderón_ stadium in Madrid which his father built with the complicity of Mourino, the Madrid Football Club's polemical trainer. But then Calderón insists that he's gotta bring the _calderón_ (in other words, the big cauldron he came outta from) to bathe into it so Mourino goes and tells him to go soak in water that eyesore Mr. Bean in King Land who will dunno what's going on. Point is: while Calderón fools around Mr. Universe will sneak into the presidential palace and claim Calderón's a Choina spy: a popular uproar will start and Mr. Universe will become the head of the United States of Mexico. The guys at Washington will start to call the insurance companies to ask if "catastrophic course of events" is covered by them. And then chaos ensues. If ya have the guts, then send this mail to the first person ya think of. If not, erasing eraser of erasure will delete it by yelling "Mary Poppins' curse" at it. Enjoy this crazy courtesy of Troll-F and G-Junior." … Hilarious!"

"I find way too long." X muttered.

"Come on, X! Ya gotta see the originality of it!" The teen told him.

"I don't." He drily replied.

"Man! Ya are too stiff. Maybe I can fix that?" The teen teased.

"No. You don't have permits to mess with my programming. Master took care of it." He automatically argued.

"It's a way of speaking, ya see~!" The teen insisted.

"Well then, I don't see the fun on it." X grumbled.

"Ya don't, Mr. X Files?"

"Come on!" X groaned.

"Come out into the hockey lane and score 333 points! Then ya will have the national cup in your hands!"

"That's impossible." X shot back.

"Who says that?" The teen asked.

"History."

"Hmmm… "What then is, generally speaking, the truth of history? A fable agreed upon." … ID this one!" The teen challenged with a grin.

"… Napoleon Bonaparte, 20 November 1816…" X sounded surprised when he announced the origin.

"Surprised? I know how to read, mind ya. Master says that it's good to be well-informed if you wanna play your cards." The teen shrugged.

"Hum. Here are the videos… And I insist: I don't see the point of them to begin with." X grumbled.

"That's because you're a Net Navi…" The teen reminded him.

"Whatever. I'm off to watching some with some more sense." X shook the topic off.

"And what would that be?" The teen asked.

"_Metal Gear Solid: Peace Walker_…" X replied.

"Sounds like ya. Go ahead."

"Fine. Later."

X apparently left the computer while the teen stood up and walked over the bookcase: he began to flip through a book and checked something before making a smug smile.

"This is the man I gotta overcome. But not yet. I've waited since the summer but I don't mind waiting a bit more. The more time I spend preparing, the better. Hmmm? Why. I hadn't spotted this photo before, guess I focused too much on the first one… Wait… Isn't that…? No way. It's gotta be a lookalike. Hmmm?"

The teen suddenly seemed to focus on something and looked up while apparently frowning under the sunglasses.

"… Weird. The name matches… But… How? I dunno, yet… Maybe the answers are closer than I think…? I thought it was strange that I don't remember anything before the summer. And maybe it isn't as coincidental as I thought it was… Hmmm… Bah. I can settle this later. The videos will help me shake off tension. Heh, heh, heh…"

The teen sat down on the chair and unfastened his jeans' belt to then unbutton and unzip them to take his cock out: he began to play the video and looked excited by the content.

"It turns me on… Watching guys being forced to undergo _S&M_ experiences… Heh, heh, heh. Who says you need to see the vulgar stuff, anyway? This is way more select. Let's put on the earphones: I wanna listen to it…" He muttered with obvious amusement.

He plugged a pair of white earphones into the port and then placed them into his ears: he began to rub his cock while looking excited by what he was seeing.

"I simply will delete them once I'm done and clear up all traces of X having been in this forbidden server… But the forbidden is what draws me: big guys don't look cool at this stuff yet guys around my age or younger are perfect… I love seeing their struggles and their agony… And I've realized by now that the marks left behind on my body back on the summer were evidence that I've been through this… I wouldn't mind going through it again… I feel like I'd be a good masochist… Hmmm… Ah… I can feel it coming! Come!"

He suddenly gasped and closed his teeth as he released and stained some of his worktable and his right hand's glove: he panted for some seconds before slowly moving the mouse using the mouse-pad and shut the video off: he then picked a tissue from a box and cleansed the stains on the worktable: he brought his stained right hand up and slowly licked the white stains on it off: he seemed to savor it before cleansing his cock with the tissues and putting the jeans back on: he stretched and stood up while chuckling.

"Ah… Refreshing! Totally."

He made sure he'd properly cleansed everything before opening a drawer and taking out a pair of navy blue pajamas: he proceeded to take off his clothes except for the boxers (which had a wet part) and put on the pajamas without bothering to take the sunglasses out.

"X! Set the alarm clock at 8:00 AM tomorrow. I wanna be up early to exercise a bit." The teen called out.

"Sure." X calmly confirmed.

"How far did you see?"

"Heh, heh, heh. I saw a cool action sequence involving the _Peace Walker_ itself… I'm surprised such a mole can walk over the terrain at ground speed of roughly 40 kilometers per hour… And even more than such machines could exist back in the year 1974… I guess they allowed themselves some freedom in designs…" X admitted.

"This excites ya, eh?" The teen asked with a grin.

"How couldn't I? After seeing _MGS3: Snake Eater and MGS: Portable Ops, _I'm now with the next game in the chronology. I did well on listening to those talks about these games."

"Fair enough. Good night."

"Good night."

The teen climbed into the bed and removed the sunglasses to reveal reddish irises: he formed a smug smile as he left them on the worktable to his right and placed both hands behind his skull and over the pillow as he looked at the bleak ceiling.

_There's a little mystery here. But nothing will hold me back. I can easily get the information without anyone noticing. I'll train and when I face you, my enemy, I'll defeat you. And then your tale will end there. You will come bragging and over-confidently but I know how to exploit those. Crave your own grave… Ready or not… I'm coming for you… Write your will because ya won't come back alive from that encounter!_

He chuckled under his breath as he fell asleep…


	2. Chapter 1: Plot

**Chapter 1: Plot**

16:55 PM (Japan Time), Monday November the 19th…

"… Five minutes left. Check your answers."

A teacher was walking down one aisle of desks set inside of a classroom: a dozen students were inclined over their exam sheets and absolute silence ruled in the classroom: the clock over the teacher's desk slowly ticked and the low hum of the fluorescent lights could be heard: the teacher was checking on all students, but, insofar, none of them were doing anything suspicious or held anything out of place.

"… Four minutes. Check your answers."

He reached the end of the aisle and began to patrol the next aisle while still looking on: one student picked the eraser and corrected something but the teacher didn't see anything out of the ordinary with it, so he continued forward and then sat back on his chair behind his desk: he looked at an open agenda for a minute and then looked up again to make sure none of the students had changed their poses: some were flipping their papers to check what they'd written insofar.

"… Two minutes."

Some students sighed and placed their answer sheet beneath the question sheet while they looked upwards but didn't break the silence: one or two students were still rechecking their answers.

"One minute."

The rest of the students sighed in relief as they looked up and stopped writing to leave their papers ready to be picked up: the classroom's bell rang out.

"Time's over. Don't move from your posts: I'll pick the papers."

The teacher stood up and picked the papers which he glanced at: he stopped at one and frowned.

"There's one unnamed paper. Whose one is this?"

"Yikes! Eh… Me, _sensei_…"

"Ooyama – kun. First thing when you start an exam is to write your name and today's date." The teacher sighed.

Ooayama Dekao slapped his forehead in defeat, to the surprise of Hikari Netto, his brother Saito, Sakurai Meiru, Ayanokouji Yaito, Hikawa Tooru and other students.

"_Hai, sensei_…" He sighed.

"Fix it."

"_Hai~_…"

Dekao fixed his mistake and the teacher checked the other papers before storing them on a leather case.

"See you tomorrow."

"Good afternoon, _sensei_!" The class chorused.

Everyone began to pick their backpacks and then headed outside of the classroom and into the hallway.

"Yo! Akashi Hiro! What did ya think about our totally nightmarish Math exam?" Netto asked one of the students.

"Wasn't that much of a nightmare, really…"

This student looked slightly over a meter and fifty tall: his hair's color was jet black and it was totally messy (similar to Netto's) while his eyes' irises were blue: he was shrugging.

"Yeah. Your "Math-nightmare" habit is resurfacing, Netto – kun. And if you wanna clear 1st grade then you need to toss it away. I thought we'd talked about that enough times by now, Netto – kun. Hadn't we?" Saito told him with a grin.

"Oh. Come on, Saito – niisan… I didn't protest last year!"

"But you tried to skip homework and I had to pull your ears eighty-eight times to snap you outta it, Netto – kun."

"How the heck can ya remember how many times you did it during those ten months?" Netto looked baffled.

"I have good memory."

"Hah! I can remember how much I weighted a decade ago!" Dekao suddenly boasted.

"59 kilograms!" Meiru sarcastically told him.

"Wha!" Dekao gasped.

"Have at cha." Yaito grinned.

"Dekao – kun…" Tooru rolled his eyes.

"Man."

They reached the lockers and changed their shoes while they picked their Link PETs: Hiro's one had the lowercase _delta_ character painted silver and set against a black background as main emblem: the PET's colors were red and white.

"Yo! Delta! Did Ms. Moon drop by while I was in the class?"

"Jeez! Hiro – kun!"

Delta's main body color was jet black while his forearms, boots, shoulder plates, rear-pack and helmet were painted silver.

His face looked strikingly similar to Rock Man's although he had some slight differences regarding the eyes' irises (which were blue) and the shape of his cheek bones.

His emblem was the same _delta_ character set on his chest and ear-pads: the central part of his helmet had a murkier silver color to it plus two rectangles and one band cutting across it starting at the back: some jet black hair came out from behind the helmet as well.

Overall, he looked extremely similar to Rock Man and seemed to be around his height as well.

"Heh, heh, heh. This never fails!"

"Yeah. I know. I met Forte." Delta rolled his eyes.

"Oho. What's his newest joke?" Hiro sounded amused.

"Read it. It's kilometric and silly." Delta merely replied.

"Forte never writes silly things, Delta – chan!" Hiro teased.

"Hiro – kun!" He protested.

"They have a war of hit-and-run." Saito grinned.

"Oi, oi…" Netto looked surprised.

"So, Roll?" Meiru asked.

"So… What, Meiru – chan? You didn't charge me with any errands in particular today." Roll frowned.

"Are ya gonna make a move and seize _it_?" She asked in an exaggerated hushed conspiracy tone.

"Seize what? A ticket…?" She asked.

"No, no! A candidate!"

"I've got no rush."

"Tooru – kun! Don't forget that we're an _official_ couple!" Meiru suddenly brought up.

"I know, Sakurai – san…" He sighed.

"You look worried, Tooru – kun, desu." Ice Man commented.

"Don't mind it."

"Yaito – sama: the gardening is complete." Glyde reported.

"Good! Is the car on its way?"

"It's already waiting outside, Yaito – sama."

"Excellent. Well then… See ya guys tomorrow. Oi! Ooyama! Become Ookarada! See ya! Nyah, hah, hah, hah, ha~h!"

"E~H?" Dekao looked totally baffled.

"GATTSU~?" Guts Man sounded terrified as well.

"Leave it to Yaito to turn the thing around." Netto grinned.

"Yeah. So they say." Saito looked skeptical now.

"Well then! Tooru – kun!" Meiru grinned.

"_Hai_~…"

"Let's go!"

"_Hai_~…"

She closed her right arm around Tooru's left one and dragged him out while he looked at the ground with a defeated face.

"She's gotta have him carry her shopping bags…" Hiro commented in a hushed tone of voice.

"Sure…" Netto looked somewhat unsure.

"O. K.! I'm gonna go home and sharpen my secret weapon!" Hiro blinked them an eye.

"What secret weapon?" Dekao asked with eagerness.

"It ain't a Battle Chip." Hiro shrugged.

"Man." Dekao looked defeated.

"Go work on the Gorilla Idiom – Japanese dictionary, Ookarada." Hiro told him with a broad grin.

"Ooyama!"

"Hiro – kun… I thought we'd agreed on…!" Delta began.

"Save the lawyer's speech for later, Delta Team!"

Netto chuckled at the joke while Saito rolled his eyes: he made a gesture with his head to indicate something to Delta, who nodded in understanding and sighed in defeat…

17:33 PM (Japan Time)…

"… DS_013… Agent Romeo, Head of Weapons, speaking…"

"It's me."

"Master!"

"What's wrong with the mid-month report?"

"The mid-month report, sir…?"

"Page 38, Paragraph 3… 0.5% of deficit!"

"T-there has to be an error, sir. I made the numbers myself, sir. There's no deficit, sir…"

"Who printed this?"

"Smith, sir…"

"Smith?"

Dr. Raher was using a laptop to conduct a live videoconference with a man on his 30s wearing a black cap: he had brown eyes and his brown hair was rather loose.

"A replacement, sir… I had to go close a deal with a Yugoslavian contractor and I left him on charge of the last revision and printing of this report, sir…" The man reported with some nervousness.

"Tell him he's fired." Dr. Raher sentenced.

"Roger, sir!"

"Print the report again and dispatch it on the next 48 hours."

"Roger, sir!"

"I want the next one by the 30th."

"Roger, Master!"

Dr. Raher finished the videoconference and then typed something to bring up imagery of a standard model Navi colored red and orange.

"H – M! Tell Romeo's Net Navi, Eto, to bring me Smith's data ASAP in the next 4 hours." He commanded.

"Roger, Master." A Navi's voice replied.

He typed another command and a new videoconference was started with a woman on her mid-20s who had blondish hair and bluish eyes.

"DS_012, Agent Laura, Head of Counterfeit, speaking."

"What happened to your mid-month report? It should've reached me by yet, shouldn't it?"

"The mid-month report…? Sam! What did you with the report?"

"What report?" A man asked off-screen.

"You idiot! The mid-month report!"

"Wasn't that the end-month report?"

"No! There are two monthly reports!"

"Tell that man he's fired. I find it strange, though, that we such incompetency all of a sudden."

"They're replacements, Master… Most of the competent staff has caught colds or the flu, so… These are money-hungry idiots who think we're fools and that they can take profit of us to gain money, Master…" Laura was sweating from nervousness.

"Fine. I'll check with the others. Keep on the job."

"Roger, Master!"

"H – M. Visit Xenara, Laura's Net Navi, a Reverse Internet model. Then send me the info on this Sam man as well. They have 4 hours."

"By your orders, Master!"

"Replacements, huh… What an idiotic system."

He picked a folder and began to check it: he spotted something and began to look annoyed.

"This is getting ridiculous." He cursed aloud.

He started a third videoconference with a man on his early 20s who had black hair and brown eyes: an old scar was visible on his right cheek as well.

"DS_010, Monty, Head of Laundering, speaking…"

"Monty. What's wrong with the bank accounts?"

"Eh… Excuse me, Master?"

"The Barclays Bank's three accounts. I've only detected movement in two of them and one hasn't been used ever since a month ago. We need to use all three accounts or else we can't process the laundered funds properly. So? What's wrong with the third account?"

"Eh… The third account… Registered as Jean Smith… Wait… Who did I put in charge of that…? Jack! What did you do with the Barclays accounts, huh?" Monty yelled to someone.

"Barclays accounts, Boss…? I did what you told me…" Jack reported.

"And the 3rd account, the one titled "Jean Smith"…? What's wrong with that one?" Monty questioned.

"Nothing's wrong, Boss! I did everything you told me to…"

"… Check the report." He grumbled.

"Wha! I forgot to update the info!" Jack gasped in fear.

"… Replacement?" Dr. Raher guessed.

"Yes, Master… Started 3 weeks ago…" Monty gulped.

"Kick him out." He resorted to vulgar language.

"Jack! You imbecile! You're fired!" Monty roared.

"E~H?"

"Security! Kick that man out!" Monty ordered.

"W-wait, Boss! And my pay?" Jack pleaded.

"No pay! We don't give money to imbeciles! Get out!"

"H – M. Tell Bater, that standard model Navi colored black and azure to send me the info on that replacement, too. I'm going to elaborate a blacklist and send it to some circles." Dr. Raher icily commanded like he was holding his inner anger back.

"Roger, Master…"

"I'm going to check with everyone. And we're going to fire the replacements. I don't care who you need to pull over to cover that post, but no more replacements." Dr. Raher commanded.

"By your orders, Master!" Monty quickly bowed.

Dr. Raher cut the videoconference and leant backwards on his armchair: he began to rub his beard and look annoyed.

"… Too much of a coincidence… Or not…? I am not a real medic because my specialty is psychology, yet… I thought flu or colds happened in December or January… But they say this winter is colder than others recorded before, so… It's not crazy." He muttered aloud.

Shrugging, he began yet another videoconference which connected him to a man of obvious foreign origin given how sun-burnt he appealed: he was bald and his eyes were brown: he seemed to have a composed glare to his eyes.

"DS_010, Alkhum, Head of Department P., speaking…"

"Tell me, Alkhum… Have you hired any replacements as of late?" Dr. Raher directly questioned.

"Why! Yes, Master… A man named Tobihiro… But I think he lacks some intelligence. I guess he's only here for the "bonuses"…" The man, Alkhum, reported while saluting.

"Well then, tell that man he's fired. These replacements are no better than leeches." Dr. Raher firmly commanded.

"Guards! Drag Tobihiro out: he's fired!"

"Yes, sir! Right away, sir!"

"H – M. Tell his Reverse Internet Navi, Letai, to look up Tobihiro's profile and data."

"Acknowledged."

"Alkhum…"

"What are thou commands, Master?"

"Keep it up. Your report is good. This department generates good profits, really. Are you keeping it discrete?" Dr. Raher formed a smug smile and began to sound in a better mood.

"We are, Master."

"Excellent."

"We've even set up some fake documents to link us to an Eastern Sharo Nation region group: in the worst-case _scenario_, this would throw the cops into the wrong direction and given some well-placed bribes over there, the local police wouldn't investigate it. They'd get stuck." Alkhum added with a reverence.

"Good thinking! Tell that to your companions of the other departments, too. This way, we can avoid any investigations on the "Syndicate" because we'll scatter them around the globe into hard-to-survey regions with a background of instability." Dr. Raher congratulated.

"Please leave it up to me. And we can always pretend we're all fans of a disbanded _heavy metal_ band if they question about why we all wear the same clothes."

"Good. I'll leave everything on your hands, Alkhum. Later.

Dr. Raher finished the conference and rubbed his hands in excitement while he formed a smug smile.

_The idiotic police won't be able to grasp my perfect plot…! I'm a genius!_


	3. Chapter 2: A vulgar afternoon

**Chapter 2: A vulgar afternoon**

17:54 PM (Japan Time), Monday November the 19th…

"… Paperwork and more paperwork… But our new software releases are generating profits… As long as I can keep the profits up, then the old man will be satisfied… We've somehow managed to avoid being hit too hard by this crisis, luckily enough… Blues! Any urgent mails?"

"From Sharo Nation's Laika…"

"That smug-faced guy…! He's surely ordered Search Man to alter it so that it'd snuck past my filters!"

"I apologize, Enzan – sama."

"Whatever! What's his latest pun?"

"He says a Siberian snowstorm is going to hit us and we'll end up in the Ice Age…"

"Hah, hah. How funny. Tell him to share his humor with the "Troll Trio" and leave me alone."

"Roger."

Ijuuin Enzan was working on several documents and folders while he glanced at Blues' hologram projecting from his Link PET: he didn't look amused at all when he reported the contents of an email.

"Grah! I need some water. I'm thirsty."

He stood up and walked over to the water fountain: he filled a plastic cup with it and drank it with two or three gulps before sighing in relief and throwing the empty cup into the garbage bin.

"That Laika…! Coming to troll me when I'm busy…! Is he never busy or what? Don't they have stuff to investigate? Or is he so bored of that stuff that he wants to troll me? I dunno and I couldn't care less right now, really! All this paperwork…!"

He sat down on the chair and kept on working…

17:58 PM (Japan Time)…

"… Blues."

"Why. Search Man. I thought you were in Sharo Nation. Did you come over for some reason?"

"I'm on assignment here, following a lead into a "p." gang operating somewhere in Sendai, Miyagi Prefecture…"

"Yo! Blues! Did Ijuuin get my joke?"

"He did, but he wasn't amused in the very least."

"Heh! I knew it."

Blues had a met a custom Net Navi as he walked across a Cyber World avenue: the newcomer was a military Navi.

His helmet included a band around the forehead which circled the whole diameter of the head and a band crossing from the middle of the helmet to the other side thus forming an arch: the pads were placed clearly above the ears in this case: orange-tinted hair could be seen covering the sides and read part of the head: the iris color was red yet the eyes almost looked like camera lenses.

Finally, the Navi had a pyramid-shaped green spot exactly over his chin, carried a small microphone for radio communication emerged from the right side of his helmet while his left eye was covered by a small piece of an LCD visor which seemed to be there to display information.

His upper body was protected by green body armor which contained some patches of lush green: it had the general form of a protective vest.

Two round metallic plates with a grayish border were placed directly above his shoulders to protect them.

His left forearm had a circle around the wrist and a "scope" sign colored brown and set atop a black circle over the left hand could be seen: his right forearm, in comparison, had a gun built into it which included a cone-shaped trigger: it looked deadly enough.

His lower body was exposed and his black "skin" could be clearly seen starting under the upper torso armor.

His legs, starting at around the hips, were also covered in armor which included two oval-shaped circles around the knees: the boots had a square-like end.

His overall height seemed to be around a meter and seventy tall, more or less.

"Laika – sama. I did warn it wouldn't be welcome, sir, given how Ijuuin was under considerable company stress at this time of the year, sir. We shouldn't have snuck that mail past his filters, sir." Search Man told his Operator.

From what it could be seen, Laika, Search Man's Operator, was a man on his late teens which had blue eye irises and sky blue hair: the neck area of a green shirt could be seen as well as a red cap.

"Come on, Search Man… You haven't seen my bunkmates in action yet: they're terrific." Laika grinned.

"My, my. If ain't _Brother_… It's been a while. You keep on being the usual healthy guy or did ya catch a cold, too?" A fourth voice rang out.

"Shut up, Red Sword." Blues snapped at someone.

Red Sword had a wild flock of silver hair which came out from behind the helmet and covered all of his body's back.

His helmet's main color was blood red as well, yet the inner edges surrounding his thick red shades had a tint of purple to them: a purple band formed on the forehead and circled the whole diameter of it: two valley-shaped cavities had been inserted into the sides of it and they ended in golden circles: a "fin" sprouted from the top of the helmet thus giving it a menacing-like look.

His main "skin" color was black, yet his upper torso had red blood armor built over it: there were two black shapes drawn over the shoulders having a golden rim and a thin black line.

These shapes spread from the base of the neck to the lower edge of the armor.

An emblem with a black edge was set on the chest: it consisted of white and black halves split by a thunderbolt-shaped line: white was golden and silver was right.

The forearms were colored blood red and had two purple-colored parallel formations which originated at the sides of the emblem atop each hand's palm: they spread over the edge of the forearm while forming a pyramid-like shape.

His right forearm currently held a purple-colored Long Sword with a customized hilt.

The central body of the forearm was now colored metallic gray and had two purple circles colored yellow inside: a purplish-colored blade emerged around a cone-shaped purple-colored formation: the blade looked sharp and menacing for some reason or another.

His boots began slightly below the knee and had purple-colored diamond-like shapes which extended as high as the knee: they were colored blood red as well: the soils were colored purple, too.

He was currently grinning.

"Ah. But there's no denying you are my basis, Blues."

"Hmpf."

"So, you're Red Sword, of the "Hunters' Guild", eh? You look like you're more easy-going than Blues."

"I am, Sharo Nation's Laika… He's too stiff."

"I thought as much." Laika kept on looking amused.

"Hmpf. Get out of my way. I'm running an errand."

Search Man stepped asides and Blues ran off while he cursed something under his breath: Search Man didn't seem surprised while Laika was intrigued by his behavior.

"Are you… eh… going out?" Laika asked in a hushed tone.

"No." Red Sword calmly answered back.

"Ah. He gave me that impression, I dunno why."

"Laika – sama…" Search Man began to sound impatient.

"Relax. The "p." gang won't get away so easily."

"Let's hope so, sir."

"Well then, go ahead. I'll introduce you to the gang later on. I'm off to fetching some info in the Reverse Square. See ya."

Red Sword jumped off the road and dived towards a deeper level while Search Man shrugged and Laika cleared his throat: he put on a serious face next.

"Search Man. Find the shortest route there and sneak inside. Our mission is to determine if the leak is true and check out the scope of that gang's activities." He commanded.

"Roger."

Search Man walked down the avenue and didn't pay attention to a figure sporting a black cloak and hood looking on from a higher level while hiding beneath an advertising panel.

"Sharo Nation's Search Man… Advanced scanning abilities and cloaking capabilities… It'd be best to stay away from that guy."

He suddenly turned around and spotted a reddish figure heading over there: he jumped down into the main road and merged with the unnoticing crowds while sighing in relief.

"Phew. I escaped just in time from that Zero guy… We better stay away from this area for a while until vigilance is lowered… I'll go back to my Operator and we'll work on the next simulation… The day is coming closer, though… I'll overcome that man… And I'll be invincible!"

He chuckled under his breath…

18:02 PM (Japan Time)…

"… DS_009, George, Head of Smuggling, speaking…"

"George… Did you charge a replacement with writing the mid-month report in which you say you don't smuggle marijuana yet in the previous end-month report you did?"

"E~H? By all the… Kimura! Where are you? Kimura! Come here! Immediately! Kimura~!"

"I thought as much… Is this the curse of the replacements or what? What have I miscalculated…?"

"Eh… Master Caesar… I think that, scientifically speaking, sir…"

"I know: curses don't exist. I was being ironic, H – M."

Dr. Raher now looked defeated as George (a man on his 40s with punk-like blond hair, blue eyes and reading glasses) turned to the right and began to yell while not bothering to conceal his nervousness: Dr. Raher's Navi began to speak but Dr. Raher cut him.

"What's wrong, _Danna_?" Kimura yawned off-screen.

"You lowlife! Don't you know how to write a report? You forgot to add "marijuana" to the smuggled stuff list!" George snapped at him.

"And what if…? I ain't Mr. Perfect." He didn't seem to care.

"You're fired! This is an unforgiveable mistake: the upper-ups are in a chaos by now because of YOU!" George roared.

"… Whatever. I'll get my pay, nevertheless." Kimura shrugged.

"I knew it! You're a leech! No pay for you lowlife! Guards! Toss this leech into the streets!"

"I'll report you to the workers' syndicate~!" Kimura threatened off-screen as they seemingly drew him outta the room.

"H – M… Speak with Nadou, the Reverse Internet Navi, and add Kimura to the blacklist…"

Dr. Raher switched videoconferences to a new man: he appealed as being on his mid-30s, with short brownish hair, brown eyes and a monocle over his right eye.

"Master Caesar! DS_008, Alfred, Head of Drug Lab, speaking, sir! Command me, sir!" The man saluted.

"What's with that monocle, Alfred?"

"I apologize…! I was trying to look more commanding to Hyu, the replacement guy, sir…" Alfred gasped and took it off.

"By the way… How much volume of cocaine have you produced until you wrote the mid-month report?"

"About 5 tons, sir…" Alfred immediately replied.

"The report says 4.75 tons. Any explanations?"

"Hyu! I told him to use the updated files but he looked so uncaring that he used the old files! The jerk!" Alfred cursed.

"Fan – tas – tic." Dr. Raher intoned.

"Hyu! You grunt! I told you to use the updated files!"

"Who's gonna care for a 0.25 tons difference, anyway?" Hyu shrugged.

"The distributors are! They won't know for sure how much stuff we can scatter here in Reno!"

"Not my problem."

"Alfred… Do it." Dr. Raher sighed.

"Roger, sir! Hyu! You're fired!"

"Fine. I'm off. This place was silly to begin with 'cause nothing cool ever happened 'ere."

"H – M, tell Doiter, his orange and red Navi, to look up that Hyu man and blacklist him… Next one."

"Roger, Master."

The psychologist switched climbed up another position in a list and got patched to a woman on her late 40s who had long reddish hair and greenish eyes.

"DS_007, Alexia, Head of Hacking, speaking, sir…"

"Alexia… Is there any new staff over there or replacements?"

"There is, sir. Why?" She politely asked.

"Your report about the structure of the Net Police's internal networking looks largely incomplete and scarce on details. I know your department can do a better job than this. Or am I wrong?" He brought up.

"E~H? But the study was complete, sir! I wrote down everything and printed it myself, sir!" She exclaimed.

"If you printed it yourself… How do you explain this?"

"Hmmm… Ah! Mikawo! That lazy woman…! She surely didn't pay attention to my orders and printed a previous copy! I knew that she couldn't be very intelligent if she was tweeting the whole day with who knows what kind of people!" Alexia cursed.

"Lovely. Tell her we don't need Twitter addicts, thank you very much and go to the bar while you can." Dr. Raher sarcastically told her.

"This is chaos!" Alexia exclaimed.

"I know. I guess it won't stop even after I reach DS_003. No more replacements: split up that job into portions or give it to those you see who aren't being too efficient."

"I should request the information of Miwako through Zona, the Reverse Internet Navi, Master?" Dr. Raher's Navi asked.

"Go ahead."

"Miwako~! _Baka_ woman! Look what you've done! This is your latest attempt at discrediting me, huh? You'll see what happens when you mess with the higher-ups! _Okubi choudai_! I'll slice your neck! Be glad this is isn't one of those barbaric nations!" Alexia cursed aloud.

"Next one… Let's see…"

He cut Alexia off and rang up a man on his 30s who had an intelligent look to him and had a golden tooth as well: his hair was elegantly combed and was tinted azure while his eyes were blue.

"DS_006, Mathias, Head of Virus Lab, speaking, sir… Do you need me to unleash a Virus army somewhere, sir?"

"Did you develop the V3 Garuus?" Dr. Rather went straight to the point and looked calm.

"Certainly, sir. I added my personal notes on the report, sir."

"Well, V3 Garuus don't show up and nor do any notes. It's said that research stopped at V2 because it was impossible to tame the Garuus: the reason is because they "were always asking for food and our budget is not enough to feed so many Doberman dogs, which I dunno why they call them Garuus when a Doberman's a Doberman" … Any comments to make upon this, Mathias?"

"I never wrote that, sir!" He turned pale.

"Did you charge someone with this?"

"No, sir. I don't trust the bureaucratic staff so I sent it out myself and assumed all costs, sir."

"Is there a specially idiotic – looking man or woman?"

"… By all the…! Hans! That guy and his belly which only keeps on growing because he drinks too much Budweiser… He's starting to remind me of that silly Ameroupe cartoon named "The Simpsons"…! I guess he wanted to screw me and managed to intercept the report to then proceed to alter it while he was half-drunk! The idiot! I knew it was a bad idea bringing him as replacement, but given how we're short of staff…!" Mathias exposed.

"H – M, consult the details with Zuboo, yet another Reverse Internet Net Navi… Kick that man into the street right now."

"By your orders, Master…! Hans…! You lowlife…!"

"Is there no end to this?" Dr. Raher sounded defeated today.

"Weird. And it is the 19th…" The Navi muttered.

"I don't have time to quarrel with the Tuesday the 13th belief Spanish people have… Next one!"

A woman on her mid 20s who had an evil glitter to her emerald eyes and had tinted her hair emerald showed up onscreen: she looked amused and was smoking a cigarette: she suddenly gasped and lowered the cigarette arm to salute with her other arm.

"DS_005, Anastasia, Head of Young – F, reporting, sir…!"

"Anastasia. How many clients did you have this first half of a month and how many profits did you generate?" He asked her.

"35 clients and given our fare of 5000 per hour… 175000 Zenny approximately…" Anastasia quickly replied.

"Then… Why does the report say 31 and 173000?"

"… Masumi! That silly rookie! She didn't take the earphones out when I was talking with her and wrote the numbers wrong! She was listening to that Madonna song titled _Die Another Day_…!" She cursed.

"H – M… Look it up along with Orea, the Goth-like colorings standard model Net Navi… And we still have to speak with another two Heads of Departments… What an afternoon."

"Roger, Master…" The Navi began to sound tired, even.

"Keep on with the profits, Anastasia. And prepare fake clues in case someone was to snoop around, you never know."

"Roger, Master!"

Dr. Raher stood up and stretched: he looked at the burning fireplace and stood there.

_If only problems could be burnt up as easily as wood… The plague of replacements has brought disgrace!_


	4. Chapter 3: Incompetency

**Chapter 3: Incompetency**

18:13 PM (Japan Time), Monday November the 19th…

"… Let's keep on and end this farce already… Two left…"

"… DS_004, Robert, Head of Young – M, speaking, sir…"

"Robert. Clients and profits?"

"Eh… 38, sir. And we also use the 5000 per hour tax, so… 190000 Zenny, sir."

"Your report says 2 and 10000."

"That's impossible, sir! In the 4 years I've been running this department, sir, we get to mid-month with 20~40 clients and double that amount in a whole month, sir! Whoever wrote that had to be a complete… It couldn't be… Hiroki~!"

"Simply wonderful!"

Dr. Raher was obviously exhausted by now as a man on his 20s who had a slight Poirot - like moustache, black hair and blue eyes was baffled by what his superior told him only to yell in anger: Dr. Raher rolled his eyes and sounded like he couldn't keep on.

"Yeah? Whaddya want now? I was updating my Facebook profile. Don't bother me, Rob." Someone lazily replied.

"You…! What do you think this place is?"

"A club for pervert men who wanna have a thrill with kids…"

"But it's a job, nevertheless! And no serious employee would answer like that to his superior and fool around with Facebook! And why would you purposely bring ruin to us by writing such numbers in the report? Or are you trying to discredit me?" Robert cursed.

"You said 20, so I put 10000."

"Imbecile! Deafening idiot! Vagabond! I said _38_ and 190000! Do you live in Valencia's moon or what?"

"Valencia's moon? I dunno what Valencia is. Another planet like Pluto or what?"

"But they didn't teach you geography in high school? Valencia is a region of Spain!"

"Spain? That silly island has regions?"

"It ain't an island: it's a peninsula! And everyone nation has regions! Or you can't understand what "prefecture" means to begin with?"

"That was in the old, old times…" Hiroki shrugged.

"What do you mean, the "old, old times"? Are you really an imbecile? Say, I've never seen you write anything using _kanji_! You always write using _hiragana _and _katakana_! Did you fail all _kanji_ exams or what? Can't you even write "day" or "month"? Huh? Even a 7 – year old kid could write such simple _kanji_!" Robert exploded.

"Ya sound like a teacher… Leave me alone."

"I'm your boss!" Robert yelled.

"I'm the boss." Hiroki boasted.

"Yeah? You there! Who's the boss?" Robert questioned.

"Mr. Robert is." Someone else replied.

"See?"

"You bribed the guy."

"This lazy imbecile…!"

"H – M… You know the rest."

"Roger, Master… I need to speak with Zeze, the Reverse Internet Net Navi, about that Hiroki who looks like a vagabond picked up from the streets who abandoned school…" The Navi sounded baffled.

"Security! Drag this imbecile into the slumps! Toss this imbecile into a garbage container! MOVE IT!" Robert yelled.

"Last one…" Dr. Raher muttered.

The screen showed up the last of the members: a man on his 30s, who sported reading glasses, looked intelligent, had brown eyes and short black hair.

"DS_003, Richard, Head of General Finances, speaking, sir…"

"Richard… You're a very good economist, yet your report's numbers say we have a debt of 1,567,689 Zenny with Deutsche Bank… And if we don't pay in the next 15 days, they're going to embargo the office building your department is using… True or false?"

"False, sir! I'd never let a debt build up so much! It's true that we had a debt but it was of just 1577 Zenny… I spoke with the bank but it was a mistake on their side: we have _0_ debts, sir!" Richard turned pale.

"Any replacements?" Dr. Rather guessed.

"No, sir."

"Phew. The only sane department… Any rivalries?" He tried next.

"Rivalries…? Now that I think of it… Ryuusuke! That jerk! He's always trying to undermine me and thinks that he'll be a millionaire if he occupies my post!" Richard cursed.

"Marvelous, really. H – M… The last one of this list… Speak with Crunk, the last of the Navis, Reverse Internet model…"

"Roger, Master…"

"Ryuusuke! I'll show you the consequences of making up debts! I'll fill you with debts that you'll have to pay for the rest of your miserable days, you recycled stock market speculator shark!"

"Bring it on, Richie!"

"Richie…! Nobody laughs at my face! Take this!"

Dr. Raher brusquely brought down the laptop's cover and began to toss the reports into the fireplace.

"Strange, sir… The "Syndicate" has been running for 4 years already yet all problems showed up right now…" The Navi commented.

"We're not perfect, Steve Jobs said back in July."

"Oh… True, Master…"

"Yet… What do I do with all the profits? I give out a large part of them to each department and keep the remainders in various banks scattered there and there… I want to keep a solid base to invest into profitable ventures…" Dr. Raher muttered aloud.

"True, sir."

"Anyway… I'll have to wait some days for the next reports. Luckily, I'm the type to question them given how I'd never had any trouble with them for these 4 years…" He sighed and began to pace around the studio.

He stopped and glared at a portrait of Sigmund Freud set directly over the entrance door: it looked like it was the guest portrait.

"Dr. Freud… You introduced a new technique which still survives in this convulsing world… As a German citizen, I look up to you, given how Austria is close to my nation… Our nation committed horrible deeds long ago, but we have been able to rebuild by casting them aside yet not forgetting them…" He muttered.

He then stepped out of the studio and crossed through the dining room and the hallway to exit into the garden: dusk was starting to settle and the sun had almost vanished below the horizon.

"… Yet… I know I am insulting you in using your teachings as basis for my little experiment, yet… I want to prove it. I want to prove what everyone claims to be impossible. I will prove it. And when I do… I will become a revolution. Of course, I'd be better off publishing it under a pseudonym to be on the safe side…" He reflected aloud.

He inhaled and slowly exhaled as if to relax before straightening his suit as if wanting to keep a noble posture.

_I am a genius! And I will be recognized as such one day!_

18:33 PM (Japan Time)…

"… Heh, heh, heh, heh."

"Yo! Cloud! What's up?"

"Listen, Blizzard! I spotted Mr. X!"

"What!"

"Really?"

"Yeah! The jerk was spying on Red and Search Man… Zero almost caught him but he snuck away… He didn't spot me because I was hovering higher in the air!"

"Good!"

Three heavily customized Net Navis were chatting in the Cyber World.

"Cloud Man – sama is always ahead of everyone!"

Cloud Man's lower body was a grayish cloud and he had no legs: his upper body had a mix of magenta and orange coloring.

Lastly, his head had an orange helmet with the Alphabet letter "U" set on its forehead plus a spike having a small gray cloud over it: the helmet created a shade-like effect around his eyes, the irises of which were blood red as well: the rest of his face was gray in color.

His shoulders and forearms were colored orange while the skin was black in coloring.

A magenta ring was set slightly above each wrist, too.

Two small wing-like objects with three indentations on it and colored white emerged from the sides of his shoulders.

An arrow-like object was set over the hand and the forearms: its border was colored white.

His torso had three white stripes below the chest which only occupied about the center section of it.

His emblem was set slightly beneath them and it depicted a single cloud set against a blackish background and having a white rim.

He had an open vest-like drawing over the sides of his torso which began above the shoulders and reached past the lower torso where his emblem was at: the vest's border was colored in a goldenrod color.

Each side also had a cloud-shaped drawing slightly above where the three stripes began at: two button-like drawings were set between his neck opening and the stripes.

"Blizzard Man – sama's gonna beat those guys up!"

Blizzard Man didn't seem to be much taller than a meter and fifty.

His eyes' irises were red as well and he had two red ear pads: a ski cap was being worn atop his head and it had a blue band slightly above the forehead: the rest of it was colored orange and some loose cotton could be seen atop his head.

His shoulders were colored sea blue and his forearms had an orange rim at their start: his hands were covered in the classical white "skin" as well and held two ski sticks with an orange handle.

His upper body was colored orange until slightly beneath the chest emblem: there it formed a pattern reminiscent of the Alphabet letter "M" and colored sea blue: his lower body was colored white.

His chest emblem had a red rim and the drawing a white-colored snowman's silhouette without nose, mouth or eyes.

The rest of the emblem was colored black and so were his arms and legs.

His main body was round and both his arms and legs were short: he had green skies attached to his blue ski boots' soils.

"And Cosmo Man is going to deliver the finishing blow…"

Cosmo Man's eyes were simply black and surrounded by skin while his nose and mouth were covered by a thin layer of golden armor.

Four lines converged on the forehead where a small diamond was set.

The head's upper portion was exposed and it had the typical black "skin".

Most of his upper torso was encompassed by golden-colored armor which also covered the shoulders: it ended around the chest where the emblem was set at: it was a simple four-pointed blue star drawn against a black background.

The design of the armor included two thick white lines emerging NW and NE from his emblem and curving as they ran parallel to the neck and past the shoulders.

Another two thin blue lines formed from the east and west sides of the emblem and climbed upwards: thus diving the armor into two uneven portions: the lower one was short in length while the upper one was larger.

The armor also covered both sides of the neck and continued above the head where it expanded into two ear-like extensions having blue round dome-like pads.

The arms had a blue ring around the elbow and each ring was complemented by fin-shaped extensions aiming upwards towards the shoulders.

A pale blue transparent ring was also set atop each wrist and the wrists had blue armor covering them: the fingers were also covered by the golden armor.

The plain black-skinned feet (the fingers of which couldn't be seen) had blue armor on their ankles as well and a golden-colored diamond-like object set slightly above the ankle: this object had a blue-colored triangle-like pattern aiming upwards set slightly above of where they began at.

Two thick white lines extended from above the end of those diamonds and travelled towards the lower torso area until they met an oval-shaped object with a brown edge and metallic interior: two small rectangles were drawn on the north and south edges, too.

Another two thick lines came out from the NW and NE edges and met the chest emblem by connecting the SW and SE edges, too.

Lastly, a large blue transparent ring was set around his body in a 45º angle and aiming to the SE from around the same height as the right shoulder until the left forearm.

"We're the Hunters' Guild!" They exclaimed in unison.

"Hmmm? Oi! Who goes there?" Blizzard Man suddenly seemed to stop someone sneaking on them.

"Yikes! Run for your legs, puku!" Someone gasped.

"Not so fast." Red Sword suddenly came in and blocked the path while he looked down (literally) on the spy.

"Puku! A Goth punk!"

"Very funny. Who the hell are you?"

"Eh… A nomad, puku!"

"Wait, wait! I remember that guy! Bubble Man: a WWW Net Navi! Remember how we beat them in the summer in a hockey match while in Alaska!" Blizzard Man exclaimed.

"Crap, puku!"

Bubble Man was a small Net Navi who was barely a meter and forty tall to begin with.

His face was surrounded by a blue helmet having ear-pads with twelve black dots drawn into their surface: a transparent green shade was set over his simple eyes and he had no nose: his face was rather child-like to begin with.

His main body was colored navy blue and short arms and legs emerged from it while his neck was so short that it was almost non-existent.

A small backpack which looked like two oxygen tanks was set on his back plus a lantern built over his head and connected to them.

His shoulders were colored in a deeper shade of blue and his short arms without elbows emerged from there.

A sky blue rim marked the start of the forearm while the rest of its surface was colored navy blue: his fingers had orange "skin" and his emblem (three white bubbles of different size against a black background) was repeated over the palms.

His central body had nothing remarkable drawn or built over it save for the chest emblem and a sky blue rim around his neck.

His feet design included orange flipper-like shapes around the feet while the color pattern was the same as in the forearms.

Overall, he looked short and incompetent.

"Mr. X hired you lowlife?" Red Sword demanded.

"Eh… Ask Kami – sama, puku!"

"We'd do if we knew how." Red Sword drily replied.

"Yo! Guys! What's up? Who's that?" Delta greeted as he strolled in and smiled at them.

"O~h! Delta – dono! Welcome back!" The four of them greeted while sounding glad of seeing him.

"Oi, oi… I'm not you guys' Boss anymore!" Delta argued while looking slightly perplexed.

"But, even so…!" They insisted.

"That guy's Delta, puku?" Bubble Man wondered.

"Red… Who's that?" Delta asked again.

"Bubble Man, sir! The surviving WWW Net Navi, sir!"

"Bubble Man? Forte told me about this guy, yeah." Hiro commented with a hint of curiosity.

"Talk."

"I won't, puku!"

"We'll call the creditors." Red Sword threatened.

"Uwah! I'll talk! Puku!"

"Who hired you?" Delta demanded.

"Easy, Delta! Otacon hired him! Heh, heh, heh!"

"Hah, hah. Very funny, Hiro – kun."

"Otacon, puku? Don't know the guy, puku!"

"The creditors are on their way here." Red Sword warned.

"Puku~! Mr. X approached me, puku!"

"Like we thought… Scram."

"PUKU~!"

Bubble Man ran away like he was going to be slaughtered alive: Delta looked surprised while the other four chuckled.

"Mr. X wants to find out stuff about us, eh? Well then… Let's spread the rumor that we're guarding a very important "key"… Let him come!"

"Yeah! Bring the Ocelot Troop by moaning like an ocelot!"

"Stop with the _Metal Gear Solid_ jokes already, Hiro – kun…"

"O. K.! Guys! We'll go hunt down camouflage uniforms and see who gets the higher camouflage index!" Hiro joked next.

"Sounds fun." Red Sword admitted.

"Oi, oi, oi…! Don't follow his game: it gets worse. Believe me, guys…!"

"On the contrary: it gets better. Maybe The Sorrow will make us a favor and bring sorrow to those guys 'cause they lost a bet?"

"I'd rather we bring _fear_ to them…" Cloud Man suggested.

"And terror…" Cosmo Man added.

"Plus an avalanche!" Blizzard Man laughed.

_Hiro –kun and his crazy jokes… I'm fed up with them, really!_


	5. Chapter 4: Trouble

**Chapter 4: Trouble**

01:08 AM (Reno Time), Tuesday November the 20th…

"… Man. This job is freaking boring! There's nothing to do save watch the freaking entrance. And no – one ever comes in! Mike! Tell me ya wanna screw the guy who hired us and pays us a misery for a freaking boring job…! I wanna blow the guy up, that Doiter guy!"

"Cool it down, Bob… Ya knew what was at stake when we recycled ourselves as private security for this lab's network…"

"Heh, heh, heh. The thirty-six bells of doom have rung out. Ms. Moon announces destruction. And Terror Man came to sweep the ground with the carpenters standing on it!"

Two Reverse Internet Navis had been discussing next to the entrance of a Cyber World sector when a new voice rang out: both gasped and drew Long Sword Battle Chips.

"Who goes there?"

"Told ya… Terror Man! The president of the Zombie Club…!"

"Z-zombie Club?"

A new Net Navi calmly walked in while looking rather amused.

His eyes' irises were blue and they displayed amusement while long blond hair came out from behind him and reached all the way to the floor.

A blue jewel shaped like an inverted triangle was set on the forehead of his helmet which was emitting a cross-shaped flash.

He had a red vest over his mainly black body and red armor over his forearms and boots: two golden circlets were set around his forearms and on his boots as well.

He also carried a pyramid-shaped emerald green saber weapon on his right hand which had white a trapeze base and hilt.

"Yikes! This guy ain't a grunt!"

"Wasn't that obvious, Bob?"

"Heh, heh, heh. Calling on Omega~!"

"Omega?" Both gasped.

"Yeah! I'm the boss of the _Three Musketeers_. Which means that you guys are done for… Unless ya happen to have a Spartan – III hidden in the locker and armed with a bazooka…" Omega grinned.

"Is this guy crazy or what?" Bob cursed.

"Dunno!" Mike shot back.

"Reno, Reno and Reno… All bad guys always wanna come play greedy villain here, eh?" Omega joked next.

"You lowlife… Don't screw us!" Bob roared.

"Nope. I'll have you count how many bells are ringing out inside of your skulls. If ya count up to thirty-six then ya can run for your defunct and extinct steam locomotives." Omega shrugged.

"Ya~h!" Bob yelled as he rushed towards Omega and brandished the sword.

"Bad move, Bobby."

He stepped to the right and made Bob run past his position only to trip with something which turned out to be a Mettool: it came out from underneath the met-hat and began to dance.

"Metto~!"

"What the hell!"

The Mettool got a twitch over the right eye and used its pickaxe to hit Bob's right foot: he yelped and began to jump around while grabbing the foot: he then spotted Mike, who was knocked out, lying on the ground and muttering something: a doorway nearby had been blown out and yells were ringing out from the inside.

"Kya~h!"

"Run!"

"Uo~h!"

"Nyah, hah, hah, hah, ha~h! Vamp has come to slaughter ya guys! Run for your defunct and extinct steam ships! The new top-class butcher is gonna redecorate this place! Run! Run for your sanity! Nyah, hah, hah, hah, hah, ha~h!" Omega's voice yelled.

Several Navis began to run out only to find a squadron of riot control police Net Navis coming in.

"Nobody move! You're under arrest!"

"The cops!" They cursed.

The Police Navis quickly reduced the first group while another squadron ran into the main room to find a lot of knocked out Net Navis scattered around there: sounds of fighting were ringing out from a room deeper inside.

"… Damn! There's no hitting this guy!"

"Keep on trying, Doiter!"

"Whaddya think I'm doing, Alfred?"

"Long-legged Alfred is gonna jump out through the window and be met up with the reception committee~?" Omega joked.

"Damn this guy!" Alfred cursed.

"Take this! Battle Chip, Cross Bomb! Hah!" Doiter roared.

"Every heard of tennis? Hah!" Omega laughed.

"No way! UGO~H!" Doiter agonized.

"Doiter! Damn! He got beaten!" Alfred hissed.

"Reno City Police! You're under arrest for drug processing and distribution, "Long-legged" Alfred!" A police officer announced.

"Heh, heh, heh. _Game Over_, Fred!"

17:15 PM (Japan Time)…

"… What? Alfred and his lab got shut down?"

"Yes, Master… And it'd seem there was one of the _Three Musketeers_ involved on the affair, too, sir…"

"I'll contact someone I know. He will know the details."

"Roger, sir."

Dr. Raher didn't look too surprised at the news: he merely started a videoconference and he ended up being patched to a man on his late 20s or early 30s with black hair: his eyes were closed and he had a permanent smile on his face.

"My, my! Dr. Raher. It's been a while, sir."

"True, Prosecutor Roppou Satoru… Maybe you have some information on an arrest performed in Reno a while ago?"

"I do. My sources are fast. They've confirmed the arrest of 37 persons running a drug processing lab."

"In effect." A Navi's voice added.

"Judge Man. Can you send them a copy of the email?" Prosecutor Roppou asked the Navi.

"Roger."

"We'll be in contact, Prosecutor."

"Please leave it to me."

The communication ended and Dr. Raher shrugged.

"The drug department was not _that_ important, so… Let's start checking the agenda for tomorrow." He muttered.

"Roger, Master.

Dr. Raher hummed a melody as he began to type into the computer and looked up some information…

17:19 PM (Japan Time)…

"… _Comrade_ Roppou, I guess?"

"Huh? Ah! Eh… Who might you be, sir?"

"Talos. Colonel Talos."

"Eh… What can I help you with?"

"What do you know about the "Devil Syndicate", _Comrade_?"

"E~H? How can you know its name?"

"We have our manners,_ Comrade_."

Prosecutor Roppou had been sitting in a bench outside of a large building and reading up a book when a man approached him.

Prosecutor Roppou was about a meter and seventy tall and wore a white shirt plus a brown sleeveless jacket, green pants and a brownish tie complemented with brown shoes.

The newcomer looked on his late forties: his hair was grey and parts of it fell down in the front of the face and he seemed to be missing his left eye as well.

He was dressed in a grey army uniform, although the area around the sleeves and neck was colored in a reddish patch.

He had a distinction on the right side of the uniform just underneath the right shoulder and was smiling.

He was also holding a strange artifact on his right hand which seemed to be some kind of dagger: it had a central handle that was in the shape of a cylinder: two curved daggers sprouted from each end, each facing an opposite direction.

Some strange patterns were carved on each dagger's face.

"I am a member of the _Committee_. Does that ring a bell, _Comrade_?"

"T-t-t-the Committee…!" Roppou uttered.

"Mwa, hah, hah, hah… Book Man looks so cheap!" A Navi laughed.

"How dare thou!"

Judge Man, Prosecutor Roppou's Net Navi, was a tall adversary who looked close to a meter and eighty tall: his body was mainly built using bluish books with golden patterns on them.

His face was largely covered by a yellowish mask but he had blue eyes lacking pupils and purple ear-pads: an open book facing north was merged with his head's upper portion.

He had a white keyhole-shaped object set over his chest which included the drawing of an open book's covers and lacking the inner pages: the rest of his body's "skin" was tinted black like in most Net Navis.

A book's covers colored blue and with some golden patterns drawn over spots of them served as an open cloak surrounding his body put together with another cover shaped like a cape.

His forearms and shoulders were also made of books: his arms lacked elbows while his hands were covered in purple "skin".

His boots were also built up of the same material and covered from the knee below to the ankle: his feet "skin" was purple in color, too.

Overall, though, he looked commanding.

"Mwa, hah, hah, hah… I'm Sigma… One of the _Three Musketeers_ who is gonna beat ya to a pulp!"

Sigma was about two meters tall and was colored jet black: a red spheroid could be seen set on his chest area and it seemed to be missing the armor over it.

His face had two red eyes and one shone brighter than the other: two horns, one of which was almost erased, were set on both sides of his head and added a "demonic" look to him.

Green data flows moved around his body and he held a massive black and green sword in his right hand.

Overall, he seemed to be tall and imposing.

"Judgment Press!"

Judge Man summoned a book which flew upwards and then dropped into Sigma: but he aimed the sword upwards and plunged it through the book to then jump in front of Judge Man, who'd drawn a short whip which was frizzling with electricity.

"Judgment Whip!"

"Mwa, hah, hah, hah… Cheap!"

Sigma used his sword to bounce the whip off and suddenly closed his left hand around Judge Man's head to lift him off the ground: Sigma ignored the kicks Judge Man delivered to his legs in his vain attempts to break free from Sigma's tight hold.

"Speak!" He commanded.

"Why, you…!" Judge Man cursed.

"What's the "Devil Syndicate"? Nebula Grey's newest ruckus?" Sigma demanded.

"Nebula Grey? What's that?" Judge Man shot back.

"Never mind. So?" Sigma questioned.

"I only know they've been around for 4 years!"

"4 years, huh… Then it ain't Nebula Grey's newest proxy."

"So, _Comrade_?" Colonel Talos questioned Roppou.

"T-this is illegal!" Roppou protested.

"I do not think so. Commissioner Kifune of the Net Police gave us the go-ahead."

"No way!" Roppou's jaw hit the floor.

"That man, Dr. Raher… He's the leader, am I right?" Colonel Talos calmly deduced.

"You've been intercepting my mail?" Roppou gasped.

"Indeed. You were part of the conspiracy led by _former_ Mayor Cain of Cyber City to awaken the "Cybeasts", after all. You happened to be vacationing, so that's why we didn't do anything back then. But the past is the past, _Comrade_. I am interested in the ever-so-fluctuating present. And I believe you will be coming along to answer a few questions."

"Yeah! Book Man's coming along, too."

"I am Judge Man, you Demon!"

"Yeah, I'm a Demon. Now go pack and spend a week vacationing in the Bahamas!" Sigma laughed.

"Gentlemen…" Colonel Talos called out.

Two Net Police officers came in and Roppou turned even paler as he recoiled and met the wall behind him.

"Prosecutor Roppou: you are to come with us. We have reliable information that you've been accepting bribes and manipulating the Judgment Tree's systems." One officer stated.

Roppou sighed in defeat and was escorted away by the officers while Colonel Talos toyed with the weapon by spinning it.

"If these gentlemen think we haven't noticed them, then they are very mistaken. We've been monitoring them and our "replacements" strategy has worked up perfectly. All that's left is for them to make one fake step and expose their arms. Then we will be able to process them. We should focus on shutting down their vilest departments first. But we have Mr. Sponsor's help to handle that, anyway." He exposed.

"Roger, Colonel! I'm gonna go see the Epic Duo and tell them the good news insofar. And I think Brad Shad will soon corner that Mr. X guy so that we can figure out if he's bald or not. Mwa, hah, hah, hah, hah!"

"Good humor, _Comrade_. Please go ahead."

"My pleasure…"

17:33 PM (Japan Time)…

"… Yo! What's going on around here, Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde? Settling the score by drawing up monsters?"

"… No, Sigma – san. I don't see where you got the idea, sir."

"Yo! Sigma! What's up?"

Sigma had showed up on the Hikari twins' PC and come up with a joke which Saito greeted with skepticism and Netto grinned.

"We got a guy named Judge Man and his Operator, Prosecutor Roppou Satoru, 'cause they were part of the summer plot and another plot named "Devil Syndicate"… One of their bosses got rounded up in Reno, Nevada, by Sir Omega, so…" Sigma chucked.

"Devil Syndicate, huh… Are they worrisome?" Netto asked.

"Well… They're a conglomerate of different businesses which are controlled by a central post… And it'd seem our famous Mr. X is an operative cut off from any other "Department"… But the funny part is that we made sure to place replacements in key posts which produced bad reports and, this way, we knew who they were sent to and we had fun listening into the calls where the big boss told the middle bosses to fire the replacements… Heh, heh, heh, heh…" Sigma chuckled.

"I see. By the way… Do you think the guy Hiro – kun saw spying on him a while ago when he battled the WWW Navi Drill Man is one of that gang as well?" Saito asked.

"We think so… We need to further our researches. But I'm sure good old Forte is gonna give us a hand on the topic. He's gonna bring along the thirty-six bells of doom!" Sigma laughed.

"Oho. Terrific!" Netto grinned.

"Not again…" Saito looked fed up with the joke.

"Did ya say something, Sai – chan?" Netto joked.

"Jeez."

"Oho. Clark Kent – sama is asking for his elixir of eternal life so I'm gonna go bring it to the guy before he fires me. Beware of Ms. Moon! See ya around the district! Bye!"

"Bye!"

"… Goodbye."

Sigma exited the PC and Netto chuckled until Saito pulled his ears from behind to snap him outta it: he formed a smug smile and looked amused at his reaction while Netto was rubbing his ears.

"A~w…! Niisan…!" He complained.

"Focus." Saito told him.

"Focus on what?"

"That half-finished homework which you were trying to smuggle past me, Netto – kun…" Saito calmly signaled.

"Crap." Netto grumbled.

"So?" Saito asked of him.

"Alright, alright! I'll do it! Ya needn't pull my ears!" Netto groaned.

"It's the only way to call for your attention, Netto – kun. And next time we play I'm gonna be intense…" He teased.

"Fine. We'll settle this in our next game!" Netto replied.

"Come anytime." Saito challenged.

Netto began working on the homework while Saito picked a course-book from the backpack and studied one of its chapters, underlining with a marker the most important parts: they remained silent.

_Netto – kun… If you think you can skip homework while I'm around then think it twice: I know you too well! Next time I'll tickle you and we'll settle the score with our game. This is life!_

He giggled under his breath…


	6. Chapter 5: Decapitation

**Chapter 5: Decapitation**

19:39 PM (Japan Time), Tuesday November the 20th…

"… Next news: Prosecutor Roppou Satoru of Cyber City's Green Town has been arrested over suspicions of bribery and interference with Green Town's Judgment Tree's systems… The police have yet to release an official communiqué regarding this news… Next is…"

"… Roppou Satoru of Green Town…? Oi, X… I thought Master had us bring him some stuff once, right? Back in September…"

"Yeah. By the way… It'd seem one of our departments in Reno, a drug lab, was raided by the police."

"One department down, huh… But we've got another 10! It ain't anything worrisome. Did you bring me good videos tonight, too?"

"Yeah. From the Young – M department… Nobody questioned me since I handed over the agreed money… I insist: I don't see the point on these because it seems like needless pain."

"And I always say that…"

"That's a human thing, yeah, I know, Operator."

"When will you call me by my name instead of just saying "Operator"? We've know each other ever since August!"

"I thought it'd be safer."

"Safer? Aren't we at home?"

"… Guess I'm being paranoid."

"Come on, X…"

"Fine… Zarashe - kun."

"Just my surname? That sounds somewhat rude, ya know."

"Zarashe - kun. Let's settle it there."

"Given how you look stubborn…"

"I thought _you_ admitted being stubborn."

"What an irony, eh?"

"Whatever."

The teen, Zarashe, was speaking with "X" while looking at his laptop which was playing the news regarding Roppou Satoru's arrest: there was a closed book with the label 'Album' on its cover set to the right of the laptop, too: Zarashe sported the sunglasses and looked somewhat amused while "X" sounded serious and dry.

"Come on! Go out into a date with Fortune!" Zarashe joked.

"Fortune? Dead Cell's Fortune?" X asked.

"Yeah. She has some looks, don't ya think so?" He teased.

"I couldn't care less." X grumbled.

"Then maybe you wanna go out in a date with Raiden?" He suggested.

"Do you think I'm an idiotic guy or what?" X was annoyed by now.

"Ya never know!" Zarashe formed a broad grin.

"I know. Have the videos and let's end this silly argument." X settled with a huff.

"Let's see… Hmmm… Two guys in the wooden horse… Lots of clothes pegs, wax, toys and coolness… Good choice!" Zarashe grinned.

He began to look at a video while he rubbed his cock: he eventually released and let out a sigh of satisfaction.

"Heh, heh, heh… I'm getting closer to finding out the conspiracy around me. And even if I unravel it, I won't care. I'm cool as I am now, an agent of the "Syndicate", so… My only goal is to overcome that man. And I'm so gonna do it!" Zarashe muttered.

He opened the album and flipped until a photo labeled "6th grade promotion, June 2010" which showed several students posing: Netto, Meiru, Dekao and Yaito were amongst them along with Zarashe…

19:48 PM (Japan Time)…

"… Puku! Ya are Brad Shad, puku! I won't tell ya anything for free anymore, puku! Pay, puku!"

"… Ya see… I'm Blood Shadow, not Brad Shad."

"Whatever, puku!"

"Not "whatever"… Learn to say people's names right."

Bubble Man was discussing with a Net Navi whose name apparently was Blood Shadow in a corner of the Reverse Square.

Blood Shadow looked about the same height as Rock Man or Delta: his main color of choice was red.

He sported black shades: a flock of messy reddish hair came out from behind the helmet given how it only covered the face and the front of the head: his ear-pads had two purple "V" letters drawn inside of them.

His armor had the purple letters "BS" engraved on the chest area while his legs were colored black and had two red stripes running down the legs' sides in a parallel manner.

His right forearm was covered by a device colored red coupled with a piece of it which was colored transparent red: a small indentation near the wrist had the same "BS" initials engraved there: and, where the hand would be, a large double-barreled shotgun emerged instead.

"I don't care, puku! I'll beat you, puku!"

"Oh yeah? Show it to me."

"Fish Missiles, puku!"

"Slow."

BANG!

"Wha~! Puku~!"

"So?"

Blood Shadow shot his shotgun while aiming upwards: Bubble Man dropped into the ground, scared, and began to crawl back but Blood Shadow grabbed the tube on his back using the left hand to lift him and glare at him.

"Speak."

"Whaddya want? Puku?"

"What's Mr. X's identity?" He demanded.

"W-well! Puku! Dunno! Puku! The guy always carries that cloak and hood, puku, so I dunno his face! Puku!" Bubble Man replied.

"I should've known it, but I wanted to be on the safe side… Fine. Tell that guy that he won't be able to hide for much longer if he shows up. And if he tries to harm Rock Man or his companions then he's gonna get into one hell of a mess." Blood Shadow instructed.

"R-roger! Puku!"

"And my name's Blood Shadow."

"Blood Shadow! Puku!"

"Later."

Blood Shadow began to walk away and Bubble Man sighed in relief before he formed a grin and rubbed his hands in excitement.

"Heh, heh, heh… Puku… I've got an idea, puku… A perfect trap to get rid of that guy, puku…" He muttered.

"I'm afraid that your latest strategy will be pointless and useless, Mr. Smith…" A voice rang out.

"Huh? Who are ya? Puku?"

"Forte. And Gospel Jr."

"Grrr…"

"Yikes! Puku!"

Forte had stepped into the square followed by the large yet no so tall (meter and seventy, more or less) "Gospel Jr." beast: he'd opened his cloak and his face denoted amusement.

"Mr. Smith's boat sunk on the bay."

"Huh? What the heck? Puku?"

"I mean… You're gonna sink."

"Sink, puku?"

"Sink in sin. Heh, heh, heh, heh!" Forte made up a pun.

"I don't get it, puku." Bubble Man frowned.

"Ya needn't to, Mr. Dean." Forte kept on sounding amused.

"Huh? Puku? I don't get the point! Puku!"

"Fine. Oho. Your fans came."

"Fans…? No way! Puku!"

"GIVE IT BACK! GIVE IT BACK! OUR MONEY~! THEY SOLD US AN "ANTI-MATTER HARPOON" WHICH IS A HOAX! GET THE GUY~!"

A mob of about thirty Reverse Internet Navis wielding blunt weapons showed up and headed for Bubble Man while Forte and "Gospel Jr." jumped down into another road at a lower height: Bubble Man ran for it with the mob chasing him and yelling.

"Anti-matter harpoon…? That Bubble Man… The guy's gotta have seen way too many _Star Trek_ episodes… Let's go meet up with good old Zero. Let's tell them to come and buy anti-matter harpoons: they'll act like flea to the mud and fall into the net. All that'll be left will be pulling it up."

"GET 'IM! GET 'IM! GET 'IM!"

"PUKU~!"

"HAND BACK THE MONEY~!"

"PUKU~!"

19:55 PM (Japan Time)…

"… Speak."

"I know n-nothing!"

"I doubt that."

"Who the hell are ya?"

"Blood Shadow: one of the _Three Musketeers_."

"No way!"

"Way. You're Zeze, the Navi in charge of this sick establishment. Who's DS_002?"

"Never met the guy or gal…!"

"Hmpf. Information compartmentalization, then…"

Blood Shadow was questioning Zeze and other Net Police Net Navis were present, having arrested several other Navis.

"B-but! How did you guys know where this was at? Our cover and camouflage were perfect!" Zeze cursed.

"Perfect? There's nothing perfect in life. It's a delusion. And we've handled people like you before. They always come up with some silly cover which doesn't really justify so many businessmen coming in and out all week long." Blood Shadow calmly told him.

"Damn!"

"You can take him away already: he knows nothing useful and I have no further questions to ask. He's a mere grunt, after all." Blood Shadow told the police Navis.

"Roger."

"_Hi~_! Bloody Shadowy~!" An amused voice rang out.

"Oh come on. Sir Omega, sir… Please… Let's not start the Nickname War again, sir… Boss won't like this, sir." He slapped his face in defeat.

Omega walked in followed by Zero: even though his face and mouth were immobile, he seemed to be amused by the situation.

"It's taken you guys over one year of calmly listening in and collecting data to get the idea of these guys' scale and then began to slowly decapitate them... Yet… I don't see why they need to go to such extremes as recording _nothing_ about that DS_002 guy: we know they exist, the Navi and the Operator…" Zero argued with Omega.

"There are always two of them: Master and Apprentice. No more and no less!" Omega shrugged.

"You mean the Sith." Zero deduced.

"Yessir! Bingo!" Omega clapped.

"Zero… Did you find anything new?" Blood Shadow asked.

"Apart from that sticker…" Zero shrugged.

"Sticker…? Ah!" Blood Shadow suddenly gasped.

He ripped off a sticker which read "Brad Shad" colored purple and with a black background: he then spotted the name "Mars Warrior" written on the reverse and seemed to get annoyed.

"Sir Omega, sir! This is ridiculous and needless, sir!" He protested with obvious annoyance.

"Is that so, Brad Shad?"

"Blood Shadow, sir! Bubble Man was the one who heard it wrong, sir, and I see no point in manipulating names, sir!"

"But that's your codename, Bloody Shadowy~!"

"I do not have a codename, sir!"

"Ah, no? I thought ya were like the FOXHOUND guys… Ya know! Decoy Octopus, Psycho Mantis, Sniper Wolf, Vulcan Raven, Revolver Ocelot, Liquid Snake, Solid Snake…" Omega listed.

"OMEGA!" A man roared over the radio.

"Ops. Review Man came." Omega grinned.

"Stop kidding around!" The man commanded.

"Sure, _shachou_."

"I ain't a company's _shachou_! Come back here NOW and stop bullying Blood Shadow!" The man cursed.

"Bullying Brad Shad?"

"I'm – about – to – get – angry – for – real!" The man hissed while inhaling between each word and finally exhaling.

"Oho. I guess the Zombie Club's curse is about to start."

"Boss! Omega did it again! He changed the password "Mars' Mariner Valley" for "Guys who like showing off muscle"!" Someone yelled on the other end of the radio.

"And stop making like impossible for Kir Osh, too, by changing the storage bays' passwords whenever you want to! My original Solar System geography ones were intelligent enough!"

"Omega… I think you go too far by always doing something which you know that Mr. Vadous, your Boss, will criticize… Why don't you try to be, I dunno, more practical?" Zero sounded exasperated, for once.

"Don't worry, _Danna_. I've got everything under control. Moriarty is managing my stuff, ya see."

"Stop with the Sherlock Holmes jokes: come back NOW!"

"Roger, Mr. President."

"This guy…! I'm not any nation's president or prime minister!"

Omega shrugged before he logged out: Blood Shadow began to tap the ground with his right foot to display impatience and Zero leant both punches next to his torso.

"Nice panorama. Omega now sets up vulgar-like passwords and gets on everyone's nerves…" He grimly muttered.

20:01 PM (Japan Time)…

"… Police report the arrest of 45 persons in Motomiya, Fukushima Prefecture… They were involved in an illegal institution in which young men were exploited and abused of: 15 victims have been freed and are going to be sent to the hospital for examination before trying to reunite them with their family or parents…"

"WHAT?"

"That's…!"

BLAM!

Dr. Raher brought his fists down into his worktable thus making some papers fly when the news report came in through the laptop: he looked incredulous.

"DS_004's department got shut down? Damn! That was one of the three which generated the best amounts of money! Decapitation…? Is that what's going to happen? But…! I've written nothing about DS_002 and his mission. I'll reassign it to him. He'll overcome that man. And then he'll become a terrifying agent! I'll show it to them… How my research on personality foundations and evolution was correct!" He exclaimed while looking angered.

"… Should I…?" The Navi asked.

"No! No online communication. I'll dispatch a written letter. One of my staff can go and deposit on his mailbox. I like this method better because it's safer." Dr. Raher replied.

"By your orders, Master Caesar."

"Good… Not everything is lost yet! We will go down, but we will leave an imprint, a model to be followed! A perfect structure… A perfect organization…! I'm sure that even the mighty "IQ" would have recognized how well organized my "Devil Syndicate" is! I won't let them make me look like a fool!" He exclaimed.

He banged the table again and cursed under his breath…

20:04 PM (Japan Time)…

"… Heh, heh, heh… So that's how it was. And that's why they picked me of all people. Whatever… Once I'm given permission, then… I'm gonna continue with my mission. I'll overcome this guy…"

Zarashe had been looking up some documents inside of a folder and he looked amused: he then glanced at his Link PET which was apparently empty given the blackened screen.

"X is still out there, but… I think we can try to approach Bubble Man and get an idea of that guy's potential… Orders are orders and I won't question them, but I'd liked to go and exploit that guy. It'd been amusing to… But I won't complain." He muttered next.

"… I'm back." X announced.

"Yo! Did you find plenty of _cyborg ninjas_ out there, X?" Zarashe joked as he picked the PET.

"Hah, hah. Very funny, Zarashe – kun." X drily replied.

"Or, rather, you had to beat a Harrier 2 using STINGER missiles? Did you find the eye patch to play the role of the pirate next time around? Are ya gonna dance to the rhythmic of Mantis' brainwashing melody?" Zarashe asked in a rush.

"Jeez. Leave me alone." X complained.

"Not yet. I'll bring you to your patience's limits, X – chan."

"Grfjtx! Had I known this would happen, I'd come back later."

"Fate is cruel, X!" Zarashe improvised next.

"Yeah, yeah. Good night."

The PET switched off, so Zarashe left it on its place and then stretched before glancing at the documents again.

"Heh, heh, heh… Better be ready, or else… Heh, heh, heh."

He chuckled under his breath and formed a smug smile…


	7. Chapter 6: DS002

**Chapter 6: DS_002**

11:11 AM (Japan Time), Wednesday November the 21st…

"… Yo! _Beta_ X! Back from meeting Sniper Wolf's deadly looks and her PSG1…?"

"Hah, hah. Zarashe – kun. Be serious already."

"Come on! Show your hide: the public has gotta be impatient to know it by now!"

"Hmpf. Whatever."

Beta X was a Net Navi who appealed as being over a meter and sixty tall, maybe closer to a meter and seventy.

His eyes' irises were blood red in coloring but they lacked pupils: his facial expression denoted seriousness.

His helmet's main color was black as well yet he had some blue pieces of armor built around the edges of it and spanning through the middle of the helmet: a red pyramidal jewel aiming downwards (similar to Omega's) had been set directly above his nose.

The helmet included five extensions shaped like wings and colored white plus a golden edge: two formed on the lower edge of the helmet, another two formed at a height over the eyes and the last one sprouted from the middle of his helmet while aiming upwards.

His main body's color choice was black: he had a white piece of armor set over the chest which contained a ruby jewel and two wing-like extensions spreading across the torso until the shoulders: the drawing of the "Devil Syndicate" was set within a piece of armor located over the upper edge of the ruby.

A golden edge surrounded his neck and formed a small collar-like object around it: his shoulders had white armor over it: three thin spear-like extensions formed behind them and gave off the impression of a wing as well: the uppermost piece was golden in coloring while the other two pieces were white.

His arms' skin was black until the elbow: white armor encompassed it and extended until the hands and fingers: a golden ring served as additional protection for the wrists.

The rest of his upper body had no decoration whatsoever until the hips, where the leg armor began at: a golden edge in the shape of a triangle marked the start of it.

The rest of the legs' armor was painted using white color palette: the knees had extra armor over them and two small and short wing-like extensions.

Golden pieces of armor showed up over the ankles yet there was a space between them and the legs: they were bent upwards to form a triangle and included the wing shapes on their edges.

Lastly, his feet's armor included two pieces of outer edge and another two pieces which were separated by a slight space between the front and the rear of them.

Overall, his appearance was reminiscent of a "fallen angel" given the color motifs and all the winged extensions.

"Our deadly "fallen angel" is gonna sweep the ground with all Claymore mines standing on it?" Zarashe joked.

"Hmpf. Dunno." Beta X folded his arms and looked unimpressed.

"How about we do some research on Mr. Universe?" Zarashe suggested with a broad grin.

"There's gotta be something in the newspapers' archives… We could start by there. But I don't want to risk coming close to the Net Police database because security will be very high there." Beta X calmly replied.

"Go ahead, Lestrade." Zarashe invited.

"Who?" Beta X frowned.

"Inspector Lestrade." Zarashe clarified.

"… Sherlock Holmes, huh…" Beta X muttered.

11:22 AM (Japan Time)…

"… Hmmm… I have articles from the guy dated at April, May and August 2009… But there's nothing past that time. The latest article speaks about the disbanding of "Gospel"…"

"And that's when the guy became a Net Savior to act in an anonymous manner and in discrete operations… Interesting!"

"Yet… It's picking on me."

"What is?"

"Delta… He looks like a total copy of Rock Man."

"I had a report about that somewhere… Ah. Here it is…"

Beta X was looking up some files inside of a Cyber World sector which was heavily transited while speaking with Zarashe: the guy began to search for something given the sounds of paper shuffling.

"Here! Master Caesar sent it to me… January, 2010… The "Dark Chip Syndicate", "Nebula", led by Dr. Regal, son of Dr. Wily, had been toying with a program which infiltrated Net Navis and copied enough of the core program to then be able to recreate them as a "DS" version. "DS" stands for "Dark Soul"… They also created a new breed of Net Navis who were immune to side-effects of "Dark Chips"… They named them "Darkloids", it says… Apparently, Delta and Red Sword were two of the many created by that program. But by the time Dr. Regal got to activate it, he was arrested by the Net Police and Officials, so he never got to monitor or count how many "DS" Net Navis had been created…" Zarashe read.

"Ah. So that's how it is. Then, Cloud Man and company are…?" Beta X seemed to deduce the answer.

"Yeah. Out of 6 Darkloids… Those three are part of the "Hunters' Guild", one, Shade Man, got deleted, another, Swallow Man, got arrested and so was the last one, their boss, Laser Man…" Zarashe listed.

"Hum. So! Do we have any info on how the "Hunters' Guild" began? I know they've been around since June or July, but…"

"… Oho. This is interesting. Five of six got defeated on that January day and the only survivor was Swallow Man… And both Red Sword, who was named DS Blues, and Delta, named DS Rock Man, also were a few days later… But DS Rock Man's deletion was a subterfuge for the real one to go underground and set up a gang named "The Renegades" which was "led" by a guy named Specter Man… They seemed to be a bunch of useless idiots at a first look, but deeper investigations revealed how Delta was the boss and how he'd managed to rebuild the Darkloids and Red Sword. Delta apparently did something "bad" for a few days before he vanished off the radar until May, more or less…" Zarashe grinned.

"What happened next?"

"He and Akashi approached the "Renegades", who had been leaderless since January, and then helped Dr. Regal break free. They made a pact and set up an organization named "Neo Nebula"… But there was some internal conflict and the pact ended up broken. Dr. Regal ended up in the brig again, this time for good, and Akashi was willing to go there, too, because he'd done harm, but Commissioner Kifune decided to go with his alternate plan of a community service plan… The Darkloids had been purged of their "Dark Power" programming and so they set up the "Hunter's Guild" to cooperate with authorities… And this explains how they got here. Very interesting!" Zarashe finished reading.

"Ain't it, Admiral Nelson?" An amused voice rang out.

Beta X gasped and whipped around to spot Omega leaning against a column directly in front of them and toying with his switched-off saber by tossing it up and catching it as it fell down.

"W-when did you…?" Beta X demanded.

"Been waiting here all morning… Stealth camouflage, ya see, Admiral Nelson…" Omega grinned.

"H-how could you know I'd come here?"

"Easy! I knew that if one wanted info on Rock Man they'd try to come here since this is a public service in which anyone can look it up."

"Crap." Beta X gasped.

"By the way, Admiral Nelson! Is that guy over there Field Marshall Wellington? Was Waterloo way too intense for you ever-so-refined King Land manners?" Omega joked.

"F-field Marshall Wellington…?" Zarashe sounded baffled.

"Oho. Dave came to pick Daisy up." Omega whistled in admiration.

Beta X looked around, surprised, and didn't see anything out of the normal: he gasped, but, before he could react, Omega had shown up right behind him and was popping his head over his right shoulder: Beta X looked nervous and didn't dare to move.

"Heh, heh, heh. So?" Omega asked.

"So… What?" Beta X nervously asked.

"How wide?" Omega grinned.

"How wide… What?" He frowned.

"Ah… Sorry. Ya don't have _it_, I think." He sounded

"I've lost track of what we're talking about!" Beta X protested.

"Too bad, Archie."

"Archie?"

"Beware of Akashi's secret weapon." He warned.

"A Giga-class Battle Chip…?" Beta X tried to guess.

"Nope! His chest…" Omega corrected.

"His chest…? How can you call that a secret weapon…?"

"Let's get outta here!" Zarashe cursed.

Beta X logged out while Omega shrugged and rubbed his chin.

"Run, chicken. But you'll come back to me. My looks are daunting, ya see, Archie…" He giggled.

11:33 AM (Japan Time)…

"… I am reporting live from Saitama City, Saitama Prefecture… The police have shut down an illegal institution in which girls of ages 12~16 were abused of and arrested 60 women: 30 girls have been freed. Police admit that these arrests are part of a larger operation to shut down several "departments" belonging to a yet unnamed organization…"

"… This can't be a coincidence… First of all: 10 persons fall ill on the same month and we have to hire 10 replacements. And then there's a boycotter in another department… Reports are sent with mishaps and I have to personally contact each Head of Department… Result? The police are shutting down several of the departments… They started with the Drug Lab… They followed up with Young – M and now Young – F… I guess the "p." department will be hit next. Decapitation…"

"Master…"

Dr. Raher looked resigned at the news he was watching over the laptop and was tapping the desk with a golden fountain pen while reflecting aloud: his yet unidentified Net Navi sounded nervous.

"It's not like I intend to give up. But the results built up over these 4 years have been very satisfactory. It wasn't in vain." He muttered.

"By the way… Should we allow Beta X and Zarashe to go defeat Rock Man and his Operator or do we wait for the right time, Master Caesar?" The Navi asked of him.

"Hmmm… At this rate… The "Syndicate" won't survive into the next week, I'm afraid… I'll send them a written letter given them permission to carry out that mission…" Dr. Raher decided.

"Roger."

"But I will have proven it, nevertheless… I was very fortunate finding those schematics and the right person into which to test the device into… They'll that you can live sans memories of the past… Heh, heh, heh…" He grinned.

He then chuckled under his breath…

11:44 AM (Japan Time)…

"… Heh, heh, heh! Puku… My trap is perfect, puku! I know I copied it from another guy, puku, but… Who cares? Puku! Heh, heh, heh. That Brad Shad's heading towards deletion, puku!"

Bubble Man was hidden behind an advertising sign and looking towards a bridge crossing over a chasm and connecting two city-like clusters of buildings using binoculars: he had a broad grin on his face and sounded like he was up to something.

"Puku! There's the guy, puku… Take this, puku!"

Bubble Man took out a remote-like device and pressed a button: nothing happened and a twitch formed over his right eye: he pressed again and again yet nothing happened.

"Puku! What's wrong with this?"

"Boom."

"PUKU~!"

Bubble Man jumped outta the ground, dropping the remote, and whipped around to see Red Sword looming over him.

"You copied that from TV?" He guessed.

"H-how do ya know, puku?"

"Please… Do you think anyone falls for the same trick twice? "Fool me once, I'm to shame. Fool me twice, you're to shame." … Let's check on your stuff."

Red Sword picked the remote and knocked on it: a hollow echo rang out and he then opened both covers to reveal how the insides were empty and devoid of anything.

"Please… How can a remote work when there's nothing inside to begin with?" He sounded baffled.

"What, puku? Remotes have stuff inside, puku? But in TV…!"

"TV, TV… Look up Wikipedia first! Any remotes must have the components which allow it to work. And grabbing some chunks of ground and then writing "C4" into them won't make them into bombs, either. Your setup is childish and ridiculous." Red Sword sighed.

"No way, puku!" Bubble Man gasped.

"Way. Things aren't as simple as they look. Now get lost and don't bother anyone else. And let me tell you something else: the explosion would've only dropped Blood Shadow into the Reverse Internet but not deleted him at all. Too bad." Red Sword added.

"Puku! This is a conspiracy, puku!" Bubble Man proclaimed.

"There's no such conspiracy, Bubble Man. Get lost."

"Puku…"

Bubble Man dragged his feet away while hanging his head down in defeat: Red Sword sighed and leant both punches to the sides of his torso while looking somewhat tired of the whole story.

"That Bubble Man… We've let him go free because he's rather harmless but he's proving to be sillier than I thought. I guess Dr. Wily was aiming at using him as a throwaway and give out the idea that the other Net Navis would be as weak as him and thus lure opponents into tight spots… Anyway… I should get on the move." He muttered.

He walked away from the spot at a calm and leisurely pace while whistling a theme: he didn't spot Beta X spying on him while hidden behind an advertising sign placed atop a building.

"What a guy, that Bubble Man… He thought that just by making up something which looked like C4 and a detonator he could delete Blood Shadow… He misunderstood Specter Man's setup: the grace of it was to make Rock Man fall into the Reverse Internet while he'd cut contact with his Operator and have him face those high-power Viruses with only his default weapon…" He muttered with a hint of annoyance.

"Luckily we were able to hide here…" Zarashe sighed in relief.

"Yeah… Guess we'll need to figure a way to get actual battle footage without being obvious… Hmmm?" Beta X replied before spotting something.

He spotted Forte and "Gospel Jr." meeting up with Red Sword and chatting: Beta X crouched to try to hear in.

"… Red Do Sod showed up?" Forte was joking.

"Don't start toying with my name. _Reddo Soodo_!" Red Sword shot back with obvious annoyance.

"Guess Brad Shad's cooler."

"I don't see the point on making up pointless nicknames. Go past the Arizona plains." Red Sword told him.

"Go collect lilies in Mt. Everest." Forte suggested.

"There aren't any lilies in Mt. Everest!"

"My bad. Then go meet dancing dancer of dances."

"Grjftx! You and Omega are impossible: Zero is the only one who ends up seeing how pointless this so-called "humor" is!" Red Sword cursed.

"Ya wanna date the guy, then? Or are ya gonna date Delta?" Forte asked while making his eyebrows jump up and down.

"You lowlife…! Insulting my honor…! Hmpf!"

Red Sword became data and disappeared while Forte made an exaggerated shrug gesture.

"My, my! Short patience, really!" He exclaimed.

"Grrr…" "Gospel Jr." growled.

"Ya hungry? Go search for Garuus."

"Grrr!"

The beast ran off while Forte suddenly glanced at the advertising sign: Beta X gasped and remained still.

"… Heh! So they're going to re-release the _Lord of the Rings_ trilogy in Blu-Ray, eh? I'm not gonna miss that. Let's go meet Blu-Ray Man. Nyah, hah, hah, hah, ha~h!" Forte muttered before starting to laugh.

Beta X slapped his forehead in defeat before running off and jumping down into a rear alley to then sneak outside of the city and into a large avenue filled with people going up and down.

"That guy… He's gotta be crazy after spending almost 20 years without speaking with anyone and then getting a hit on the head from the mighty Serenade… Master Caesar would love to be able to psycho-analyze that guy and firm a verdict to legally declare him lunatic or not and if he should be interned or not." Beta X grimly muttered.

"No wonder… Come back home and we'll think of something else. If not, I can always go myself to any Game Center and check on the archives which a lot of people do. I better wait until the afternoon. I can pass as a 6th grade student without much trouble so they won't find it weird I don't sport a uniform, anyway." Zarashe told him.

"Good thinking, Zarashe – kun. By the way… Is it me or are you trying to run another research at the same time?"

"Yeah. I think I can figure out why I ended up here despite the fact that I don't remember anything before August… And I'm very close to finding it out. But that won't change anything. I just want to satisfy my curiosity. I'll overcome that man… Hikari Netto… and I will be rewarded."

"I'll have a look at it, too. Maybe I can fill any gaps you find along the way." Beta X formed a grin.

"We are proud to announce that the film trilogy _Lord of Silliness_ will be re-released in Blu-Ray format on the 31st of February 2011! Nyah, hah, hah, hah, ha~h!" A voice echoed from the city.

"Forte… He's hijacked a speaker and come up with a parody ad…"

"Really… He's nuts. Totally." Zarashe sighed in defeat.

He rolled his eyes under the sunglasses and Beta X sighed in defeat…


	8. Chapter 7: Critical hit

**Chapter 7: Decisive hit**

15:55 PM (Japan Time), Wednesday November the 21st…

"… There's nothing abnormal to report, Master."

"Good. Take a break, High – Max."

"Roger, Master."

"… And let's hope nothing bad happens, too… Or maybe I'm just being defeatist…"

High – Max was a rather tall Net Navi whose main color palette was jet black: he appealed as being close to two meters tall.

His face's skin was metallic grey while his eyes were white and expressionless: his mouth's position denoted seriousness.

The center of his upper body had a ruby-colored spheroid set on it plus a hexagonal white patch of armor with the "Devil Syndicate" emblem painted upon it.

The helmet was built around his head and included a segment covering the length of his nose: a ruby jewel in the form of an oval had been built on his forehead: the centermost section of the helmet was colored white but the rest of it was jet black in coloring: two horn-like extensions formed at both sides of the helmet and aimed upwards while leaving a small space between them.

His shoulders had thick armor built over it and two metallic grey stripes signaled the beginning and end of the short arms which didn't have elbows: golden armor surrounded his wrists while his fingers were colored in both white and grey painting.

The skin below the armor was jet black in coloring, too, and it was visible because the armor ended slightly above the stomach area: a black belt was built around his waist and it had a yellowish piece of armor set on the center portion: the armor beneath it was colored white and was surrounded by black armor: two gray stripes were painted over the hips to signal the start of his legs.

Gigantic armor covered the legs starting at the knees and then developing into large and thick feet: two yellow rectangles were placed together at the start of each leg along with a black pattern having a shape reminiscent of the Alphabet letter "Y" slightly below the start of the legs: the feet themselves were shielded by sturdy armor colored white and with black edges plus two small holes near the heel.

Overall, he was tall and commanding.

"Master Caesar, sir… Actually… The "p." department and the Hacking department have been raided, sir…" High Max admitted.

"Lovely." Dr. Raher grumbled.

"Lovely daises?" Someone asked with obvious amusement.

"Grrr…"

"Who the…? Huh! You lowlife are… Forte!"

"Correct, _Danna_."

"Forte, you say!"

Forte and "Gospel Jr." had come into the computer and High Max made a grimace while Dr. Raher stood up in a violent manner from his armchair and dropped the golden fountain pen.

"How did you know where this was at?" He demanded.

"Please… According to Colonel Talos they've been checking on you guys for a year and 8 months already. They've simply bought their time to make sure they had a complete and detailed schematic of your layout and a good estimate of the amount of bucks moving up and down… They've now been teasing the police with spoon-fed info to slowly decapitate you guys given how your business was a headache for several parties… The Hacking dept got shut down with help from the NSA, too." Forte admitted while humming a melody.

"Damn!" High Max cursed.

"Delete that guy!" Dr. Raher commanded.

"Roger! Be gone! Death Sphere!"

High Max lifted his arms and formed a bluish sphere of energy with a yellowish core and which frizzled with electricity: he threw it towards Forte who merely lifted his eyebrows in amusement.

"Gonna play tennis, Wellington? Set 1! Go! Dark Arm Blade!"

Forte drew his curved indented blades and suddenly spun around his axis to hit the sphere laterally and make it bounce back towards High Max: he gasped and quickly countered it: this time, though, "Gospel Jr." used its tail to hit the sphere back and make it build up speed: High Max jumped out of the way at the last moment just as the sphere hit the floor and left a mark there: Forte abruptly jumped across the air and headed for High Max: the taller Navi used his punches to hit Forte on the chest twice and delivered a brutal kick to his upper body using the right foot: Forte was sent crashing into the ground, hard, and he groaned.

"No more Mr. Nice, huh… Go, Gospel Jr.!"

"Grrr!"

"Damn!" High Max cursed.

"Gospel Jr." opened the mouth and shot a stream of green-colored flames towards High Max but he withstood them without much trouble: he then rushed in front of the beast and plunged the right arm inside of it: "Gospel Jr." suddenly became stone and stopped moving.

"Hmpf! I have an ability which can freeze up any program's processor until I deactivate it. You lowlife go next, Forte!" He grinned.

He looked towards the spot Forte was supposed to be at but he wasn't there anymore: he gasped but didn't have time to react and Forte made two cuts on the exposed skin section from behind: he hissed and quickly whipped around to deliver two punches to Forte's helmet which formed cracks on it: Forte stepped back and looked at the helmet for a split second before focusing again.

"Bring it on, Freddie~!" He taunted.

"You lowlife… Die! Sphere Buster!"

High Max began to hover over the ground and to shoot a string or ten or eleven bluish spheroids frizzling with electricity about the size of a tennis ball but Forte had no trouble slicing them in half or dodging them: a twitch showed up over High Max's right eye as if to prove that he was getting pretty annoyed: he then formed the earlier spheroid again.

"Be gone! High Sphere!"

He made the spheroid form around his right fist and he hit Forte with it thus sending him flying and forcing wounds on his body: Forte chuckled and grinned as he suddenly formed a purple-colored copy of the same spheroid.

"Have you forgotten what makes me special?" He taunted.

"Damn! Get Ability Program…!" High Max cursed.

"Yessir! Been a while since I last used this, but… Take this! Your own medicine, Major!"

"Not yet! High Rings!"

Two transparent rings with symbols carved into them formed around his shoulders and knees: Forte hit one of them and his attack got repelled to be shot at him: but Forte's body glowed and he formed the same rings, colored purple, around his body: he repelled High Max's counterattack and drew his Hell's Buster.

"Hell's Buster!"

The multiple shots broke through the barrier but they bounced off High Max's heavily armored body, nevertheless: High Max formed a smug smile and formed the spheroid again.

"Death Spheroid!"

He shot it towards Forte and it broke through his defenses: Forte absorbed it, too, and formed a copy of it: High Max then ran towards him while having another spheroid formed on his right fist.

"Die."

He made contact with Forte's own spheroid and both annihilated each other: the shockwave damaged Forte because of his close distance and he had to jump some distance away: he panted and was starting to have trouble standing, even.

"Damn. I hadn't had such an intense fight ever since I fought Nebula Grey…! I need to focus…! Recovery Program!" He hissed.

"Destroy!"

High Max now formed two spheroids which he fused into a large one and threw towards Forte: he clasped both hands together and waited for a second just as High Max flew towards him.

"Darkness Overload!"

The blast pierced through the spheroid and met High Max head-on thus inflicting some damage to his face: High Max growled something and was forced to abort his earlier attack: he suddenly hovered above the ground again and seemed to build up energy.

"Destroy! Destroy! Destroy~!" He roared.

He formed the main spheroid which he split into eight smaller ones: he then began to shoot one after the other towards Forte while forming different trajectories and going at different speeds: Forte cursed and tried to intercept them but half of them ended up latching into him to then self-destroy and inflict close-quarters damage: Forte jumped towards High Max but was repelled by the barrier rings: he got a jab on his jaw next and was tossed into the ground: Forte corrected his trajectory and managed to land into the ground somehow.

"Is that all?" High Max taunted.

"Che… Not falling for that…" Forte grumbled.

"You lowlife are nothing. I don't see why they say you lowlife are so powerful but that must be rubbish speaking. You lowlife can't stand up to a secret military Navi like me." High Max laughed.

"What? That Caesar man didn't create you?"

"No! I was created as part of his request… A highly skilled military programmer designed me to return a favor… My armor is immune to Breaker-type attacks: it's unbreakable! A revolutionary armor compound…!" He announced.

"Crap. This is turning ugly. But I won't give up! Earth Breaker! The finishing blow!" Forte cursed.

"Hmpf!"

Forte built up energy on his right hand and then jumped towards High Max: the taller Navi formed his gigantic spheroid and placed so that Forte would inevitably strike it: Forte, however, drew a Dark Arm Blade on his left forearm and sliced it in half to then hit High Max's chest thus shattering his ruby jewel: High Max cursed and stepped back while clutching that segment: Forte grinned.

"How was that one like, huh?" He taunted.

"You lowlife… Don't dare to think you've won…! Limiters: off! Meet my TRUE POWER!" High Max roared.

"Limiters…? This guy is like Omega?" Forte gasped.

"Hra~h…! Power…! My power is being released…! Destroy Sphere! This time it's really the end, Forte!" High Max exclaimed.

He formed a reddish sphere of energy from which nine stream of energy shot out and all hit Forte on different spots of his body: wounds formed there and High Max rushed towards Forte: he closed his right hand around Forte's neck and began to try to crush it.

"Heh, heh, heh, heh… Weak! Weak! Weak!" He taunted.

"My, my… I'd never guessed my _aibou_ needed help like this but it'd seem it was a good idea to remain on standby as backup… Mr. Ugly! I'm your opponent!" A voice rang out.

"Who the…?" High Max cursed.

Something hit him from behind and he roared while he let go of Forte and turned around to see Omega holding a gun on his hands which was smoking: he looked calm and collected.

"You lowlife…! Omega…? What was that?" He cursed.

"Raw plasma. Not even your armor can withstand it."

"Raw plasma? Impossible!"

"Well. I call it raw plasma yet it is way cooler than normal plasma. But it's hot enough to melt most metals and compounds…" He shrugged.

"You lowlife… Die! Destroy Ray!"

High Max formed a sphere of energy tinted crimson and shot a straight beam of energy towards Omega: the guy switched the gun for the saber in a blur and then moved forward while dashing across the ground and forming a trail of afterimages on his wake: High Max gasped as Omega's dashing pose made him bent the body forward and make the beam skip him by 5cm: Omega dashed past him and suddenly whipped around in a blur to jump atop High Max and plunged his saber into an opening made on his back by the earlier attack: High Max howled something and tried Omega who wasn't there and had landed next to Forte.

"Here, Forte. Full Recovery Program!"

"Ugh… I owe ya one…" Forte groaned.

"You'll have plenty of chances to repay me. Let's go tell this guy to head into Windows 7's Recycle Bin." Omega grinned.

"Omega…" A slightly annoyed voice called out through the radio.

"Oho. Boss joined the party. What should I tell this Sigmund Freud wannabe?" Omega asked with a smug smile.

"Who is a "Sigmund Freud wannabe", huh?" Dr. Raher demanded as he discharged both fists into the desk.

"Your non-existent uncle who has a thick moustache, a golden tooth and a monocle is…" Omega laughed.

"OMEGA~!" "Boss" yelled.

"Guess Mr. Vadous didn't like that one." Forte muttered.

"What! That man's voice is THE Vadous…? The head of the "Subspace" organization…?" Dr. Raher gasped.

"Correct, Dr. Raher. That of the replacements was a little idea of mine and the Committee managed to make it possible."

"Damn! I knew it couldn't be a series of coincidences…!"

"Omega! Remember: your mission is to weaken High Max and then pave the way for the Officials to finish the job up." Vadous told him.

"Roger, _shachou_~!" He grinned.

"Oi, oi… Omega… I think ya should stop…" Forte nervously whispered to him.

"You lowlifes… Don't screw around! Destroy Meteors!" High Max roared as he began to hover into the air.

High Max began to make crimson meteors rain down into the field but both Net Navis had jumped out of the way: Omega touched "Gospel Jr." and cancelled its freezing: Forte whistled and signaled High Max, so "Gospel Jr." jumped and bit the right arm section which wasn't protected by the armor to drag the guy into the ground to jump away right afterwards: High Max stood up while rubbing the wound and formed a grimace.

"You lowlifes…! Be gone! High Quake!"

High Max's fists glowed with crimson light and he hit the floor with them thus causing it to shake and for cracks to form across it: hellish crimson flames emerged from them and spread all around the area: "Gospel Jr." was totally unaffected by them while Forte and Omega jumped into the air to face the opponent.

"Hell's Rolling!"

"Take this!"

"Grah! You lowlifes…! DIE~!"

The Hell's Rolling left two crevices on High Max's body as they travelled across it while Omega delivered a barrage of punches to his face and helmet before High Max punched them away.

"Let's end this already. Behold! Seal of Infinity!" Omega announced as he drew what looked like a Trump card.

"Seal of Infinity…?" Forte frowned.

"What the hell?" High Max cursed.

"Hah!"

"Uwo~h!"

"Whoa!"

Omega threw the card at High Max and it latched into his forehead's jewel: the "infinity" symbol colored purple formed over it and High Max's body was slowly petrified until he stopped moving altogether: Forte looked surprised while Omega merely snapped his index and middle fingers of his right hand.

"Heh, heh! Boss' high-power Navi-freeze program works perfectly. Officials! You guys' time to shine came~!" Omega called out.

"Let's go back, "Gospel Jr."! I need a rest." Forte told the thing.

"Grrr…"

"Nobody move! Official Net Battlers!"

There were some knocks on the office's door before six policemen came in and Dr. Raher's face turned white.

"Dr. Murker Raher. You're under arrest. The full list of charges is yet to be completed, but all evidence is against you." One officer announced.

"I-impossible…!" He gasped.

Omega grinned and shrugged while Forte whistled a tune…

16:24 PM (Japan Time)…

"… WHAT? Master Caesar got arrested and the "Devil Syndicate" is being slowly decapitated? Damn!"

"Yeah, I know… What do we do?"

"Fulfill our mission, obviously enough! It can't wait: we'll do it today so that we'll catch the guy largely unprepared and he won't know what to expect out of your battle potential…!"

Zarashe jumped outta his chair when Beta X brought the news: his sunglasses fell atop the desk, too, and he didn't bother to pick them up again.

"Yeah! We'll prove to Master Caesar and to High Max – sama that we are loyal to end! Loyal soldiers who will carry out their mission…! I'm with you on that one: let's challenge them to come at 18:00 PM. Given how they end the classes around 17:00 PM, they'll have little time to prepare and even less if we suddenly send them the mail around 17:30 PM! They'll be on a rush. We could add a threat or another, too." Beta X suggested with obvious malice.

"I like that plan's sound. Those guys are about to get beaten up and they're gonna have a _dramatic_ end…" Zarashe grinned.

He opened a drawer and checked on something before closing it again and slowly sitting down: he picked the sunglasses and put them on again by using his right hand's middle finger to push them up: he then aimed his hands towards the PC while joining his index and middle fingers in a cool-like pose.

"You copied that from Major Ocelot…" Beta X grinned.

"Yeah. I feel like I could look up to the guy. He's cool and I like how he tests people's lucks with his SAA revolvers… Hikari… We'll see what kind of luck you hold… Because if it isn't strong enough, then…"

"… Something bad will happen to ya…" Beta X finished.

Both chuckled under their breaths…


	9. Chapter 8: Ghost from the past

**Chapter 8: Ghost from the past**

18:05 PM (Japan Time), Wednesday November the 21st…

"… Huff… Huff… What an afternoon! We'd barely gotten home when someone demands of us to come at this old factory because they have Tooru – kun and Ice Man as hostages! Luckily, we could come quickly thanks to the "Committee" car protecting us… You had to leave your "cyborg body" and return to the PET to become Rock Man EXE again, too, niisan…"

"Can't be helped, Netto – kun. Let's try to find out who the culprits are and what do they want."

"What do they want? Ain't that obvious? They wanna challenge me to a Net Battle."

"Oh. True. I hadn't thought of that."

"What an irony, eh?"

"Yeah, yeah. Let's go inside already."

Netto was panting as he leant on the outer wall of a small decrepit-looking factory building and he discussed with Rock Man's hologram as he projected out of the Link PET: a red Honda car could be seen parked not too far from there, too.

"Let's go!"

Netto ran inside and found the whole space to be unlit: a spotlight suddenly turned on and was aimed at him, so he had to use the right arm to shield his eyes from the glare.

"So! You came! Hikari Netto! Rock Man!" A voice rang out.

"Is Tooru – kun alright?" Netto demanded.

"Well… I guess he's gotta be cursing and sweating by now."

"Huh? What the heck?"

"Water Dragon Virus…"

"What! So the reason we couldn't contact them was because you sent a Water Dragon Virus into their PET?" Netto gasped.

"Correct, Hikari. It was so simple, really! Don't ya agree, Beta X?"

"Yeah… You guys are way too _naïve_ for being Net Saviors…"

"Beta X…? So you're the mysterious DS_002 guy, then?" Rock Man deduced.

"Correct! Showdown! Plug into the spotlight. Plug In! Beta X, Transmission!"

"Plug In! Rock Man EXE, Transmission!"

Both Navis entered the Cyber World of the spotlight: Beta X had morphed his right arm into a white buster which had a fin-like shape forming mid-way through its length: a golden edge ran up the right edge of the buster as well.

"I'm Beta X. And I can Style Change. I know you lost that ability when you started using the method labeled "Cross Fusion"… So I can switch elements and form terrifying combos…" He grinned.

"But I'm a non-elemental Net Navi. I don't see what advantage Style Change gives to you." Rock Man calmly replied.

"I can be unpredictable. And I'm sure you didn't bring any good Battle Chips given the short time margin we gave you two."

"We'll see about that." Rock Man shrugged.

"Hmpf. Play the cool guy while you can, Rock Man… Because I'll overcome you and fulfill my mission… My _raison d'être_…"

"Fine. Netto – kun!"

"Battle Chip, Long Sword, Long Blade! Double Slot In!"

"Beta Buster!"

Beta X shot three quick attacks colored purple and shaped like a top towards Rock Man: he quickly swung his swords to deflect them.

"Hmpf!" Beta X grinned.

He suddenly skin across the ground and then jumped into the air to propel forward and ram into Rock Man: they hit a wall and Rock Man got half-stuck there because of Beta X's speed and strength: Beta X then changed his color patterns to ice blue and violet.

"Ice Spreader!"

He charged up his buster and then shot a block of ice compacted to form a triangle into the ground: it broke into smaller triangles and five of them got stuck on different parts of Rock Man's body: he hissed but ignored them as he broke free from the wall and slashed Beta X twice: he didn't seem to care about the attack, either.

"Hmpf. Flamethrower!"

He switched color pattern to white and orange before shot a stream of eight or nine flames headed straight for Rock Man: he cut through some of them but others latched into his body and inflicted burn marks into him: Rock Man didn't mind them and slashed Beta X again: the adversary paid no heed to the attacks and rammed Rock Man into the wall again taking profit of the short distance between them: he then delivered a fist to his left side of the jaw using the left fist: Rock Man instinctively rubbed that part and then used both feet to kick Beta X off him before jumping back into the ground: the enemy Navi merely kept his smug smile on as Rock Man hit him again.

"This guy's fast!" Netto muttered.

"Yeah. But I won't lose." Rock Man calmly replied.

"Boast while you can!" Beta X taunted.

"That's my motto." Netto grinned.

"Wha~t?" He grumbled.

"Beta X! Focus!"

"Roger, Operator!"

"Hra~h!"

"Charge Shot!"

Beta X returned to his standard color palette before shooting a larger attack than he'd shot in the first round of the Net Battle: it met Rock Man head-on and he hit the wall again.

"Grah… This wall is gonna get angry at this rate." He sarcastically cursed as he repressed the exhales of pain.

"Become one with the wall." Beta X laughed.

"That sounds like a motto by someone." Netto muttered.

"Yeah. _The Mighty Ducks_! _The First Face-Off_ _Part I_… Check "Grin" Hardwing… He's a big mole guy who has a _Zen_ philosophy and always comes up with wise mottos… Unlike most big moles guys, he rarely gets angered and only fights when there's no other way around… He told that to a group of ice hockey players before he had them ram into a wall 'cause they were a nuisance…" DS_002 laughed.

"An Ameroupe cartoon, huh…" Netto calmly muttered back.

"Volt Sphere!"

Beta X transformed into a green and white armor before shooting out a bluish/greenish spheroid about the size of a tennis ball which latched into Rock Man's chest emblem and proceeded to electrocute him: Rock Man simply closed his eyes and clenched his teeth before jumping out of the hole and hitting Beta X twice: he seemed surprised at his quick reaction time but then skid across the ground to hit Rock Man's jaw with a jab and push him into the ground: Rock Man, however, gripped the "wings" extending over Beta X's shoulders and pulled them to perform a _judo_ technique and reverse their poses: Beta X grumbled something and shot another electrical spheroid at close-quarters which Rock Man didn't seem to notice: Beta X switched to his blue and white combination next and began to load up his buster.

"Ice Storm!"

He shot a spiral of ice flakes towards Rock Man: they formed cuts on several parts of his bodysuit but he was unmoved by them: Rock Man hit Beta X again with the swords but Beta X ignored them.

"So, Hikari? Has Beta X proven his power?" DS_002 taunted.

"This guy isn't bad, but Rock Man has been doing some intense pain resistance sessions. And I can keep on with this style without any trouble given how there's no rush." Netto shot back.

"Hmpf. Whatever… Let's then see if the 0,055% chance will be granted to you or not once the battle is over."

"0,055% chance…?" Netto frowned.

"One in eighteen…?" Rock Man wondered.

"Correct." He made a mock applause.

"I dunno what he means. Let's keep on, Rock Man! Battle Chip, Recovery 300! Slot In!"

The Link PET buzzed and ejected the Battle Chip back while the word "BUG" showed up onscreen using red-colored capital Alphabet letters: Netto gasped.

"The electrical spheroid…! It causes a bug which leaves a Navi unable to heal…!" He grasped.

"Correct." Beta X confirmed.

"That's cheating!" Rock Man cursed.

"Starting to get annoyed? Come!" Beta X taunted.

Rock Man slashed Beta X eight times in a row as if discharging his bad mood into him: Beta X calmly stepped back and then suddenly skid forward to hit Rock Man's stomach area: Rock Man didn't mind it and slashed four times: Beta X delivered a barrage of fists but Rock Man just countered each one.

"Counter battle…" Netto muttered.

"Heh, heh, heh. I've been waiting for this moment." DS_002 suddenly let out.

"A trap…!" Netto feared.

"Yessir! Battle Chip, Muramasa Blade! Slot In!"

"_The End_!"

"Soul Unison: Vadous Soul, Slot In! Chaos Beam!"

"What!"

Netto suddenly drew a Battle Chip which had a purple-edged circle with the Alphabet letter "V" drawn on it over a black background and which he inserted into the Link PET.

"HRA~H!"

Rock Man's chest emblem began to shine and his body was surrounded by a purple-colored mass of energy: Beta X's Muramasa Blade shattered upon contact and all color left his face: he quickly jumped away while streams of light jumped out Rock Man's body.

"W-what's going on?" DS_002 demanded.

"This is our new power! Soul Unison!"

"Soul… Unison…!" Beta X gasped.

Rock Man had gained a new layer of armor over his Navi bodysuit: it was colored purple with some black patterns into it.

His helmet had gained a terrific-looking faceplate two crimson-colored hexagons were set over the eyes while the nose and the mouth were covered by a triangular piece which had a matrix of vertical and horizontal straight lines on it: the design looked reminiscent of a gas mask's filter:

The armor included a black metallic belt with a round central point having the Hikari family crest drawn into it plus two decorated sword sheaths attached to both sides of it.

The whole thing looked reminiscent of _Darth Vader_'s own design.

"… Be ready." Rock Man's filtered voice rang out along with the breathing SFX.

Beta X stepped back as Rock Man clasped his hands together and formed a spheroid of black energy which grew until it occupied the whole height of his hands: the spheroid then shot forward in the form of a thick beam of black energy: it seemed to overcome the speed of sound given the shockwaves which formed at its wake and how the ground cracked and a crevice opened below the beam: Beta X was frozen in place and didn't react in time as the beam impacted him fully.

"UWA~H!"

"Beta X!"

When the explosion cleared, Beta X wasn't there anymore but the Alphabet letters "LOGOUT" were floating on the spot where he'd been at: the explosion and consequent shockwave had wrecked the ground in a 10 meters radius of the impact point: Rock Man panted and dropped into his fours, seemingly exhausted.

"Vadous – san… Warned us… that this technique… took a toll on my body, but… it was worth the risk…" Rock Man muttered.

"Wait a minute! Isn't Vadous a human?" DS_002 demanded.

"Yeah. He is."

"But then… What's that form?"

"His battle armor! He wears it most of the time. He's a _Darth Vader_ fan, ya see." Netto shrugged.

"And how can a human do that? He ain't a wizard or…!"

"The chest emblem he has is a device capable of generating these energies although I dunno the exact physics. But it goes out of control then it can become deadly… Remember the Nebula HQ incident last June?" Netto told him.

"That was because of his device…?"

"Yeah. Darkloid Shade Man plunged his claws into it and broke the safeguards while making it go berserk. The device then messed with the atomic structure of the building and actually turned it invisible. That's what happened." Netto told him.

"And I thought his name was a nickname or parody!"

"It was supposed to be, but he didn't notice until one or two years ago given how he wasn't a fan of going to the cinema or anything."

"Crap. 11…" DS_002 trailed off.

"11… What?" Netto frowned.

"12…" He muttered.

"12?" Netto asked.

"13…" He counted next.

BANG!

"Ugah!"

"Netto – kun!"

Netto was propelled into the ground and hit his back with it as he dropped the Link PET and clutched the area over the right shoulder: he began to tremble and his eyes widened like he was suffered PSTD.

"My right shoulder… A bullet… again…!" He muttered in a rush while sounding scared.

"13! What an irony, really! I guess Major Ocelot's fortune is smiling on me by now…" DS_002 laughed.

He suddenly dropped down into the ground and walked up towards Netto: he sported ammunition belts and holsters from three SAA revolvers and was folding his arms.

"So! Surprised?"

"W-why did you… shoot me…?"

"Orders. A soldier always follows orders… It's a simple as that, Hikari. So, what did they say? How did they explain my absence?"

"W-what are you… talking about…?"

"This year… This course… Aren't you missing someone in B Class?" He hinted with a grin.

"B Class…? Ugh… B Class… Missing person… It couldn't be!" Netto suddenly gasped.

"Yeah. Me. Zarashe Wan."

"Za-Zarashe…! But you'd moved…!"

"Oh. So that's how they covered it? What easy-going people… You didn't bother to check it, either?" He shrugged.

"B-but why would you…?"

"I don't remember anything before August, but… I guess Master Caesar wanted me to be the one to overcome you for some reason or another. I happened to have the album with the end of course photos of both 6th grade classes. I found the rest with some slight research. I can somewhat like Sherlock Holmes from time to time, too." He announced with a smug smile.

"Freeze!"

"Drop your weapon!"

Zarashe turned around to see two men on their 30s sporting black suits, navy blue ties, brown shoes, sunglasses and hats aiming Beretta M9 guns at him: one of them had jet black hair while the other sported a military haircut.

"Who the… The "Committee"…?" He cursed.

"Drop your weapon!" The jet-black hair man commanded.

"Don't move!" His partner commanded next.

"Crap. I don't have enough time to reload…!" He cursed.

"What do we do, Mori?" The jet-black haired man asked the other in a hushed tone.

"Can't be helped, Karasu."

"Roger. Good night."

"What!"

Both agents shot at Zarashe: two darts hit him and he suddenly collapsed into the ground while snoring: Mori aimed the gun at him to make sure he was knocked out while Karasu checked on Netto: he looked like he'd fainted.

"We need to call the ambulance… But it ain't grave or life-threatening, fortunately enough. Yet this type of bullets may cause a worse wound than other types of weapons…" Karasu muttered.

"Eh…" Rock Man timidly called out.

"We heard the conversation: we will bring him to a clinic, too, to see if we can find out what happened to his memories." Mori replied.

"I think I know: you should look for a chip implant like the one Netto – kun has on his brain." Rock Man told them.

"Roger. Let's call the ambulance." Karasu acknowledged.

He took out a cell phone and began to speak while Mori checked Netto's pulse: he calmly nodded in agreement to signal to Rock Man that his pulse was normal.

"… They'll be here in a few minutes." Karasu reported.

"… That Dr. Raher… Turning Netto – kun's classmate into an enemy and having him shoot Netto – kun… I won't forgive him." Rock Man muttered in an icy tone of voice.

"Of course. He played with people's lives. But nothing will save him from receiving the necessary punishment." Mori confirmed.

_Netto – kun…! Be strong… You'll make it through this one…!_


	10. Chapter 9: Moving on

**Chapter 9: Moving on**

20:45 PM (Japan Time), Wednesday November the 21st…

"… Uh-unh… Ugh… My right shoulder…"

"Netto – kun…"

"Huh…? Saito – niisan…? Where… is this at…?"

"The hospital…"

"Hospital…? Ah!"

"Calm down."

Netto had slowly woken up and suddenly sat up on the hospital bed before Saito (sitting on a chair next to the bed) had him lie down on it again: there was some bandaging around his right shoulder.

"Now… You won't be able to exercise this arm for half a month more or less, the medics said. The bullet damaged some bones as well so they have to heal." Saito told him.

"And Wan…?" Netto asked.

"The Committee agents reduced him and he's under examination: it turns out they'd implanted a chip implant like yours into him, too. And that must be why he didn't remember anything ever since August." Saito explained with a sigh.

"Wan… He's a victim… Of "evil"…" Netto muttered.

"Papa and Mama were here until a while ago but they went to speak with the medic… But they don't say you're to blame, either. You were doing your mission." Saito formed a weak smile.

"… Yeah… I know, but…" Netto trailed off.

"Relax."

"Alright…"

"Try to think of something nice."

"Excuse me. May I come in?" Someone asked as they discreetly knocked into the door.

"Come in." Saito invited.

A man came in: he looked on his mid-20s and his hair's color was jet black and his eyes' irises were blue in color: something about his face made it look slightly reminiscent of that of Netto's.

He sported a black suit plus a black tie and brown shoes.

"Oh. Vadous – san… It's been a while, sir." Saito politely greeted.

"I heard from the agents." He admitted with a sigh.

"Why was Wan…?" Netto asked.

"From what we've gotten out of Dr. Raher… He claimed it was the proof to his hypothesis."

"Hypothesis…?" Saito asked, surprised.

"Yeah. He claimed that a person could live on without memories and could rebuild their personality from scratch. He wanted to proof it, so he picked Zarashe given his connection to you two and had him be tortured in his "Young – M" club before taking advantage of his weakened mindset and implant the chip. He then blocked all of his memories and only told him he lived to serve him. But when he had one of his agents transfer his belongings to the secret apartment managed by Dr. Raher he couldn't have foreseen that there was photo album containing photos of each school year event and promotion. That's when he began to dig up but the safeguards on the chip's programming didn't make him deter from the purpose set on him." Vadous detailed.

"Like what happened to me…" Netto muttered.

"True, yet…"

"We know, sir. The end result was different, sir."

"Yeah. He'll need intense therapy but I've decided to keep his worse memories locked just in case."

"I see… I hope he recovers…" Netto trailed off.

"He'll recover. I'm sure of it." Vadous encouraged.

"… Bertie~! Show me your secret weapon!" An amused voice suddenly rang out.

"Omega. Who told you to sneak into my PET?" Vadous demanded as he drew a purple and black Link PET with the Alphabet "V" letter engraved on it as emblem.

"Clark Kent – sama~ demanded more elixir of eternal life~ so I came to buy some~!" Omega announced.

"Clark Kent… Super Man? Super Man doesn't need that stuff. Don't bring up Occidental Middle Ages witches' tales." Vadous fumed.

"Roger, _shachou_~!"

"I – am – not – a – _shachou_." He sentenced in a hushed tone of voice while sounding annoyed.

"Who knows, _Danna_?" Omega teased next.

"I do. Now go do something useful." He ordered.

"Invent the Garuu V666?" Omega laughed.

"Why 666?" Vadous frowned.

"The Devil's Number…!" He tried to sound sinister.

"Oh. Come on. That's another Occidental myth. Stop being so Occidental already." Vadous snapped at him.

"My! Brad Shad! Good secret weapon, yessir!" Omega suddenly complimented.

"Sir Omega, sir! Blood Shadow, sir! And I don't see the point of the secret weapon, sir!" Blood Shadow protested.

"Omega… You're a bully." Vadous told him.

"What? Me? A bully? That's a first!"

"Yeah. You're always provoking Blood Shadow because he's the youngest onboard. How many billon times do we have to go over this? And stop messing with the passwords, too." Vadous drily told him.

"Good evening!"

Meiru, Dekao, Yaito, Tooru and Hiro came in.

"Everyone!" Netto exclaimed.

"Yo! Netto! Stealing the glory outta me?" Dekao asked.

Meiru actually stomped his right foot with left foot: Dekao yelped and the other three looked surprised.

"Dekao – kun! How rude! Do you think it's funny to get a bullet on your right shoulder _twice_? Huh? Huh?" Meiru snapped at him.

"Wha! I didn't want to anger ya, Meiru!"

"Hmpf! Useless fatty…"

"Wha!" Dekao gasped.

"Dekao – kun…" Tooru rolled his eyes.

"Cha got that 'cause cha are a bully." Yaito told him.

"I'd rather a disgraced actor." Hiro muttered.

"Sakurai – san is right, Ooyama – kun. You should be more polite to people and not try to think you're omnipotent or the star of the show. It isn't funny at all." Vadous told him.

"Yikes! Eh… _Hai_~…" Dekao gasped.

"Guts, guts! What's going on, guts?" Guts Man wondered.

"Don't mind it!" Roll shrugged.

"Eh…" Glyde trailed off.

"Scary, desu…" Ice Man muttered.

"Yeah. Totally scary." Delta muttered.

"Yo! Sakurai! Are ya gonna check out Hikari's secret weapon hidden behind two layers of clothing?" Omega teased.

"How rude!" She grumbled.

"Omega! Get out!" Vadous whispered in an annoyed tone of voice.

"Okay. I'll go prepare the carnival with Forte and Zero."

"Carnival? But that's not until… He left." Vadous began arguing before he spotted how the PET was empty.

"That guy was vulgar!" Yaito played the offended.

"Huh? What?" Dekao frowned.

"Don't mind it." Tooru dully told him.

"Really…" Hiro rolled his eyes.

"And every time I try to lock up those stupid programs he finds a way to loophole them…!" Vadous muttered.

He fumed and began to articulate his right hand's fingers as if trying to shake off tension: he inhaled and exhaled before seemingly relaxing somewhat.

"… I need some fresh air. I'll be back on a while." He told them.

He exited the room in silence while Meiru placed some flowers in a pot and smiled at Netto: he returned the smile while Saito glanced at Roll's hologram for a second before focusing on Netto again.

"… Well! Get fine soon." He told him.

"Don't worry! I'll surely be able to come to class tomorrow but I'll have to learn how to write with the left hand again… Niisan… Can you give me a hand on that?" Netto asked.

"Sure thing." Saito confirmed.

"And one day I'll become Akihara Town's champ!" Dekao exclaimed.

Meiru directed a hostile glare at him and he quickly shut up…

21:03 PM (Japan Time)…

"… Delta – dono contacted me. It'd seem his friend is out of danger. And the "Devil Syndicate" is history by now, too."

"Ah! Good!"

"It'd been sad to see Delta – dono in a depressed state…"

"He's guided us all the way to this point!"

Red Sword was chatting with Blizzard Man, Cloud Man and Cosmo Man inside of the old Gospel HQ sector of the Cyber World: they looked and sounded glad at the news.

"BRAINSSS…"

They all gasped and whipped around to see a legion of _zombies_ advancing towards them while extending their arms forward and uttering terrifying moans: Red Sword suddenly drew a cannon-like weapon and shot a red spheroid of energy at them: it flew through them and hit the floor further away.

"… Omega. We know it's you. Stop screwing around and show your repulsive hide before we have to draw you out of hiding." Red Sword grumbled.

The _zombies_ disappeared and Omega stepped in followed by Forte and Zero: the later looked like he was beginning to get fed up with their crazy combinations, even.

"Omega… Forte… When will you stop the act with the _zombie_ horde hologram? It's… childish!" He protested.

"Yeah? Last time I checked, _zombie_ games were rated 18+ around the world!" Forte grinned at him.

"We know that in Japan 20 is the legal age, but, hey. 18 years old is not about being childish, I'd say." Omega added.

"I give up… Count me out of the email jokes club. I've more serious stuff to do over at the Science Labs."

"Do as ya like, Mr. President." Forte grinned at him.

"You really need to be psychoanalyzed. I insist. I'm sure even Serenade will agree with me on that point." Zero told him.

"Serenade is always open to ideas, I know."

"Go help hunt down gangs." Zero shrugged.

He turned around and walked out while bringing a head to his forehead as if being sick of the whole business.

"Mwa, hah, hah, hah… Demon Man came!"

Sigma suddenly showed up behind Red Sword while laughing in a creepy tone of voice but Red Sword and the others directed unimpressed glares at him.

"What… There's something in my face?" He teased.

"No." They all replied.

"A grain, I'd say." Forte joked.

"A stain, I'd say." Omega joked next.

"Shut up." Red Sword snapped at them.

"It'd seem the party is getting awry, so… Let's go to the cocktail bar and have some cups before we retire into the private room and play some games there…" Omega told Forte.

"Oi, oi…" Now Forte looked nervous.

"Uh-oh." Sigma gulped.

"What's wrong?" The three Navis asked.

"… Don't mind it." Red Sword told them.

"Forte~! Come at me~!" Omega grinned.

Forte actually ran out: Sigma logged out while the "Hunters' Guild" fled the area, too: Omega shrugged and giggled under his breath…

22:11 PM (Japan Time)…

"… Ah… Niisan… Stop it already… We shouldn't do this here… What if they notice?"

"They won't, Netto – kun. I feel impatient so I'm going to tease you like this… Heh, heh, heh…"

"Ah… Uh… Ah… No good…!"

Saito was grinning as he sat on the same chair next to Netto but had pulled his covers away while lowering his hospital cloth's pants and boxers to reveal his cock: he was using the right foot to rub it while he looked on with a grin and Netto was uttering some low-toned moans.

"Heh, heh, heh. This is fun."

"Ugh!"

Netto suddenly released and Saito quickly used some handkerchiefs to cleanse everything while Netto panted: Saito put his right sneaker back on and then tossed the handkerchiefs into the garbage bin: he hummed a tune and put on an innocent smile as if to further camouflage what had happened there.

"Ah… Ah… Ah… Whoa… Felt… strange…" Netto muttered.

"Heh, heh, heh… That voice and that face… I turn you on! Don't I, Netto – kun?" Saito teased.

"W-well… S-somehow…" Netto blushed.

"Ah… You can't hide it from your niisan! I know you too well. I know it hasn't been two years yet since we reunited when I still was Rock Man EXE but I've learnt that you can be rather predictable! Next time I'll spice it up a bit…" Saito teased.

"Oi, oi…" Netto gulped.

"Don't worry! Just a little aesthetic thing…" Saito assured him.

"I hope so…" Netto muttered.

"What… You don't trust me, Netto – kun?"

"No, no! I mean… As long as it's an aesthetic thing…"

"It's fine, right? Relax… I'll make you see the white world."

"Uh… The white world…" Netto muttered with a hint of eagerness.

"We've got some intense months ahead of us, so… We'll make sure to play from time to time. And I know you like me taking the lead. You're too timid to try to go first." Saito told him as leant closer to him and rubbed his right cheek with the middle finger of the right hand.

"You wanna tease now?" Netto rolled his eyes.

"Yeah. I feel ready for more but I'm holding back until you get totally healed." Saito caressed the cheek with his hand next.

Netto's PET beeped and Saito picked it up: he looked something up and didn't seem to find it funny.

"… Okay. This is lame." He muttered.

"What's lame?" Netto lifted his eyebrows in surprise.

"Omega – san! He sent me a mail saying this: "Sai – chan! Come with me to the club: we'll have some vesper cocktails and then retire into the private room where we'll play an amusing game: it's called Boss and Grunt! I'll be waiting! Mars Warrior." … This is a provocation. He's legally an adult so he's behaving like a _shotacon_. He could get into more than one pinch because of this." Saito read before expressing his opinion on the matter.

"Ugh. I have to agree with you on that one, niisan..." Netto grimly muttered.

"I'm not sure if I should bother Vadous – san by telling him about this, but I guess I should: he's going too far and someone should halt him before he actually ends up doing it." Saito decided.

He wrote a reply mail and then sat down again on the chair while rolling his eyes in obvious defeat.

"Anyway… I should try to sleep. The medics will come early but luckily tomorrow is Thursday, so we start at 9:00 hours instead of 08:00 hours giving us an hour's margin to get ready." Saito told him.

"Yeah… I feel way more distressed by now, too. And let's tell Dekao that he's gotta hurry to complete the Gorilla Idiom – Japanese dictionary if he wants to impress Meiru." Netto giggled.

"Which he won't ever do…" Saito guessed.

"And he'll blame us." Netto shrugged.

"Gorilla Man will be left clueless about what's going on, too, and will end up trying to fight Sigma – san only to get beaten to the last of his rusted bolts." Saito joked.

"Yaito will tell Dekao that his hairstyle is outdated while Meiru will be orbiting around Tooru – kun to make sure he's not trying to pull something on her but Tooru – kun is not that type of guy."

"In short: we're part of a pretty crazy class." Saito summed up.

"Fua~h… Yeah, yeah… One of the craziest classes ever… Hmmm… Gotta sleep… Night, Saito – niisan…"

"Good night, Netto – kun. Beware of my right foot."

"Hah, hah… I get the joke…" Netto rolled his eyes.

He closed them and was soon sleeping while Saito stretched and leant backwards on the chair: he checked his own Link PET (colored green and white) and smiled.

_Netto – kun didn't notice how I recorded this… Not like I intend to do anything bad with this, but it'll be a memento of the first time I played a new type of game with him… Heh, heh, heh… Anyway… I'm sure we'll soon have forgotten this tale and moved on forward… More adventures are waiting for us and our friends!_

He finally fell asleep with a broad grin on his face…

**THE END**


End file.
